In-person recruiting at the college level isn't returning anytime soon.Â
The NCAA on Wednesday extended its recruiting dead period for all sports to April 15. It previously had been set to expire Jan. 1, but the extension was widely expected.Â
“The COVID-19 numbers are not trending in the right direction for the Council to allow in-person recruiting and the associated long-distance travel for coaches, prospective student-athletes and their families,†Division I Council chair and Pennsylvania athletic director M. Grace Calhoun said in a statement. “We acknowledge the impact the restrictions are having on student-athletes who dream of being Division I athletes, but we must prioritize the health and safety of current and potential student-athletes and their families, as well as coaches and others on campus.â€
Still, prohibiting in-person recruiting — which includes everything from official and unofficial campus visits and coaches traveling to see prospects in person at high schools or in homes — for more than three additional months is a major disruption for high school athletes and coaches alike.
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It means that class of 2021 recruits will not be able to take unofficial or official visits before the two signing periods for football — the first of which is Dec. 16 and the second of which is in early February — meaning many prospective student-athletes will sign national letters of intent without ever having seen the campus they're agreeing to play on.Â
It also is another delay for the 2022 class, which already would have athletes taking unofficial visits this fall and would have been able to start taking official visits as soon as January. Now, it's unclear whether those athletes will be able to take visits before the summer of 2021.Â
NU tight ends coach Sean Beckton on Tuesday talked about the challenges that come along with the dead period, which now is ensured to last more than a calendar year.Â
"We're doing more recruiting as far as Zooms and bringing Nebraska football into (recruits') homes in terms of the everyday things that we do," Beckton said. "Sunday has been a really, really big recruiting day for us as far as Zooms, presentations that we've done and we've tried to spread them all out in terms of campus tours, facility tours, football, all those different things like they were here on campus.Â
"We're trying to make the adjustment. Kids are making the adjustment."Â