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NCAA adopts new recruiting rules

By Michael Marot

The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA endorsed a football recruiting rules overhaul on Friday that will allow high school football players to sign with colleges as early as December and put a two-year waiting period on Bowl Subdivision teams from hiring people close to a recruit.

If the package is approved by the Board of Governors on April 26, the signing period change would take effect Aug. 1. The Collegiate Commissioners Association would need to change the dates, a move expected to happen in June. The other significant change to the recruiting calendar would allow recruits to make official visits between April and June of their junior year in high school.

The Division I Council also backed a measure to eliminate two-a-day practices that would take effect immediately if approved.

“Today’s adoption of the football legislation marks the most significant progress in recent years to improve the football environment and culture for current and prospective student-athletes and coaches,” committee chairman Jim Phillips said in a statement. Phillips is Northwestern’s vice president for athletics and recreation.

Not all of the proposals passed, including a push for a June signing period.

“The June date, there was resistance to that, especially among coaches, but we’re going to take a look at whether we can find one that’s earlier (than December),” said Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby, chairman of the Division I football oversight committee.

Schools will now be limited to signing only 25 recruits per year, in hopes of eliminating “oversigning.” Exceptions will be made for current players who have attended classes for at least two years and athletes who suffer incapacitating injuries.

The rules changes up for final approval by the board:

n Contact at practice limited to once per preseason day. The move to eliminate “two-a-days” comes after another NCAA committee issued a blanket waiver to allow the football preseason to start up to a week earlier, though the maximum number of preseason practices remains 29.

n The recruiting calendar will include an early signing period in December beginning this year, pending an expected schedule change by the Collegiate Commissioners Association.

n Recruits can make official visits beginning April 1 through late June of their junior year in high school. Cannot occur in conjunction with a university’s camp or clinic.

n Bowl Subdivision schools barred from hiring people “close to a prospective student-athlete” for a two-year period before and after the student’s anticipated and actual enrollment (schools may honor contracts signed before Jan. 18, 2017).

n Bowl Subdivision schools limited to signing 25 prospective and current players to a first-time financial aid agreement or a National Letter of Intent. Exceptions: Current players who have been enrolled full-time at the school for at least two years and those who suffer an incapacitating injury (effective for recruits who sign after Aug. 1).

n Bowl Subdivision coaches and staff limited to participating in camps and clinics to 10 days in June and July at camps on a school’s campus or in facilities regularly used by the school for practice or play.

n Coaches employed at a camp or clinic may have recruiting conversations with participants. Educational sessions on initial eligibility standards, gambling rules, agent rules and drug regulations required.

n Bowl Subdivision schools may hire a 10th assistant football coach (effective Jan. 9).

n Adopted a proposal that would require graduate students to complete six degree-applicable hours each term to be eligible.

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