NCAA Division I Football Recruiting Calendar

NOTE: This calendar is a simple straight forward presentation of important dates and some of the definitions involved in the recruiting process; for complete details and explanations and recruiting calendars for D-II and D-III visit the official NCAA web site at www.ncaa.org. The information will be listed under  ”Legislative and Governance” tab on their menu bar.

Calendar Year 2009

1. August 1-November 28, : This is technically a Quiet Period, during which recruits can visit with coaches but only on those coaches’ campuses. But it’s also an Evaluation Period, meaning that recruiters can visit recruits off-campus during 42 “evaluation days” during September, October and November. These evaluation days must be designated in writing by each school’s athletic director. Recruiters may not visit any single recruit more than once during this time.
2. November 29-January 30: Contact Period. During this time, coaches are allowed to visit recruits off campus. Coaches can make only one visit per week to individual recruits. Also during this window, coaches must be aware of intermittent Quiet Periods and Dead Periods (during which no in-person contact is allowed) set for the following dates:
3. December 13: Quiet Period
4. December 14-17: Dead Period
5. December 18-19: Quiet Period
6. December 20: Quiet Period
7. December 21-January 1: Dead Period, though staff are allowed to have contact with recruits who have been admitted for mid-year enrollment.

Calendar Year 2010

1. January 2-3: Quiet Period
2. January 4-9: Quiet Period
3. January 10: Quiet Period
4. January 11-14: Dead Period, though staff are allowed to have contact with recruits who have been admitted for mid-year enrollment.
5. January 15-16: Quiet Period
6. January 31: Quiet Period
7. February 1-4: Dead Period
8. Febraury 3: National Signing Day for class of 2010,” the first day that recruits can sign a National Letter of Intent for their school of choice.

Start of Recruiting Calendar for Class of 2011

1. February 5-April 14 Quiet Period
2. April 15-May 31: Evaluation Period. Staffs have four weeks to conduct both athletic and academic evaluations of potential recruits. Days not used for evaluation during this time window are otherwise considered “quiet.”
3. June 1-July 31: Quiet Period.

The remainder of  the calendar dates for the class of 2011 will be approximately the same as for the 2010 class. The actual dates will be published here when they become available.

Definitions

Contact period - permissible for authorized athletic department staff members to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.

Quiet period - permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution’s campus

Dead period - not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on- or off-campus or permit official or unofficial visits.

Evaluation period – permissible for authorized athletics department staff to be involved in off-campus activities to assess academic qualifications and playing abililties. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts with a prospect are permitted.