Proposed Rule Changes for College Football Recruiting

SEC and College Football Recruiting

Incase you missed the news the SEC is hoping to change recruiting across the board in college football. After SEC coaches had to succumb to the hard cap recruiting rules, which only allows coaches to sign 25 players instead of over signing in the event that 2 or 3 players do not make their grades, they want to gain a thought advantage in other areas.

Here are their seven proposed rule changes:

1. Earlier start date for first contact with recruits for off-campus visits.

1. Allowing university officials to “friend” players and their families on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

1. Allowing coaching staff members to accept calls from recruits, family members of said recruit, and coaches of said recruits.

1. Allowing coaches to text recruits again. This seems to be a movement that will gain support throughout the college recruiting ranks. The proposal would come with limits for each player.

1. Changing the contact calendar from the current four period system consisting of contact, evaluation, dead period, and on-campus to a three period calendar on-campus, off-campus, and dead period.

1. Allowing players to make earlier official visits.

1. Banning all non-scholastic events from NCAA campuses. The main focus would be a ban on 7 on 7 tournaments which the SEC has already banned.

Just to Clarify

Some of the rule changes are much needed while others are begging for trouble.

1. Visiting with a recruit off-campus before their senior season can be a very important step for a college coach. If college coaches are allowed to offer high school and junior high children scholarships, then it may be a good idea to speak with the kid first before extending that offer. Making blind offers to any player off of their highlight reel without speaking to them first has always been confusing. You may see an attractive person and think you want to marry that person based on their looks but after talking to them you may think differently.

1. I don’t understand why coaches would want to “friend” any recruit or their parents on any social networking site. That is just a recipe for disaster. I understand this allows additional attempts to market the school, team, and coach to those individuals but this also allows those individuals to post anything they want on your Facebook page. If they think you lied to them or if their child is not getting the amount of attention they feel they need, hello Mitch Mustain’s mother, everyone will know about it before you have an opportunity to settle the matter privately.

1. Coaches should be allowed to field calls from a recruit, their parents and/or guardians, and their high school coach. The NCAA forces teams to report secondary violations if a coach answers the phone from a recruit during certain “dead” times. These children and their parents are trying to make a best life decision about their future. They should be allowed to call a coach and ask questions and find out what’s what.

1. Texting recruits with certain restrictions should be allowed. Some of the restrictions should include a total amount per month, within certain time frames, and only if the parents or guardians and the recruits have given permission to a coach. The recruit should only be allowed to receive text messages from the head coach and one other member of a team’s coaching staff. Hitting a recruit up by the head coach, the recruiting coordinator, and the recruit’s position specific coach is too much. Teams would take advantage of this rule and allow special teams coaches to text a kid because he might return kickoffs next year.

1. Changing the contact periods as long as it stays unilateral for all teams should be a no brainer.

1. The cutoff date for earlier official visits would sway my vote one way or the other. A football recruit that is a junior in standing should be allowed to make official visits during the spring or summer semesters before their senior season. Some recruits graduate early so they can enroll in college for the spring semester and participate in spring football practices. In theory this gives the player a better opportunity to play in the fall. Thus an early official visit during the second half of their junior season should be allowed. Official visits during their junior and senior seasons should be limited. The current rule allows for 5 official visits. Would the total number of visits stay at 5 or be raised to 6 or 7?

1. The ban of 7 on 7 tournaments on NCAA campuses is confusing. Why would coaches not want recruits on their campus in as many different ways as possible? This would give kids an opportunity to play on their home field and get a taste of what it might be like to be a player for said team. If the SEC has missed the boat on 7 on 7 tournaments I doubt they would have much trouble raising awareness for their individual tournaments. Would the bleed over from this include other tournaments such as volleyball, baseball, wrestling, etc…? This might be the worst and least thought out rule change of the bunch.