The recruiting dead period won’t really be dead

It’s Monday, December 13, 2021. That means the dead period is here – but will it really be a dead period? Or will there still be plenty of recruiting news that breaks leading up to the start of the early signing period Wednesday?

Seasoned recruiting fans know to expect anything but a quiet three days.

What happens during the dead period?

Per the NCAA’s recruiting bylaws, “it is not permissible for college recruiters to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on or off the member institution’s campus or to permit official or unofficial visits by prospective student-athletes to the institution’s campus.”

The dead period went into effect at midnight Monday and ends at midnight on January 14, 2022. Most important, for seniors set to officially sign Wednesday, there will be zero face-to-face contact between recruits and coaches.

Recruiters still can communicate with recruits on the phone, FaceTime and through other electronic forms of communication. But nothing replaces the connection you get when sitting in the living room with recruits and their families.

The dead period before the start of the early signing period is an especially trying time for coaches.

Most coaches are doing everything they can to seal the deal with big-time players they’ve been recruiting for years. Others are trying to rally recruits to stay true to pledges they made while fending off other programs that have targeted their commitments.

Then there are so many coaches – thank you silly season – who are trying to sell the vision of their program after arriving on the job just a few days or weeks ago.

“There’s no such thing as a dead period,” one SEC recruiter said. “The dead period is like trying to put out a fire with a water pistol. So much goes on from that minute the last visitor walks off your campus on Sunday through Wednesday, when the letters of intents start coming in.

“It’s not dead. It’s chaos.”

Why is there even a dead period?

It’s a rule the NCAA came up with for several reasons.

Probably the biggest is that coaches are recruiting with a calendar that includes an early signing period. The dead period is supposed to give families time to reflect internally about the decision looming on Wednesday.

They should be able to do that without coaches coming in and out of their front door.

Another key reason for the dead period is that the NCAA didn’t want to punish teams that are playing in bowl games and give an unfair advantage to those that aren’t.

Just imagine every team that is not bowl-eligible getting a chance to go after some of the top uncommitted recruits and make calls and visits to them, while the teams working hard for the postseason are unable to make those same in-home visits because of bowl prep. It’s just not fair, so the NCAA leveled the playing field.

Plus, many argue the dead period is a welcome Christmas present to all of those involved.

But it’s a present nobody gets to unwrap until after the chaos of Signing Day that comes Wednesday.