College football will see no in-person recruiting before the scheduled start of the season — at the earliest.Ìý
The NCAA on Thursday extended the dead period it put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic another month, running it now through at least Aug. 31.Ìý
The governing body first put the dead period in place in mid-March, but it has been extended several times and now runs through the remainder of the scheduled college football offseason. Teams that are slated to play Week 1 like Nebraska open their seasons on Sept. 5.
The NCAA's announcement Thursday wasn't necessarily surprise in that August is a dead period during a normal recruiting calendar. Even so, it means the continuation of a tough recruiting cycle particularly for recruits in the 2021 class. Spring and summer have become increasingly important for recruits to take visits — and for coaches to travel the country in May evaluating players — especially since the December signing period was introduced in 2017.Ìý
People are also reading…
Without the ability to take unofficial or official visits, the rate of commitments has been unprecedented in college football. Nebraska coach Scott Frost said recently that he thinks three times as many recruits as normal had verbally committed so far this season.Ìý
Nebraska's 2021 recruiting class currently sits at 10 members and most recently picked up Georgia running back Gabe Ervin earlier this week.Ìý
It's possible another surge of verbal pledges will happen with the latest extension now official as some recruits have been waiting to see if there's any chance of getting visits in this summer.Ìý
Now, those will have to wait until the regular season at the earliest.Ìý
Contact the writer at pgabriel@journalstar.com or 402-473-7439. On Twitter @HuskerExtraPG.