This section provides information for student-athletes on recruiting rules and regulations, as well as definitions of key recruiting-related terminology. Detailed information about recruiting is available in the online edition of the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete.
Freshman/Sophomore– college coaches can only provide Questionnaires and camp brochures only.
Junior – college coaches can provide recruiting materials beginning September 1. They can make telephone calls once per week beginning on July 1 following junior year. Coaches can make off-campus contact beginning July 1 following junior year.
Senior – college coaches can make telephone calls once per week. Off-campus contact beginning July 1 can be made and an official visit can occur beginning with the opening day of prospect’s classes.
Note: There are other collegiate associations, such as NAIA or NCCAA.
RECRUITMENT INFORMATION Recruiting is a business to the colleges and you need to treat it the same. Help us market you appropriately.
15U Players - Make a list of schools that interest you. Select schools from all levels, not just the NCAA’s top 25 ranking schools in the country. Be sure to consider cost of each school on your list; schools are allowed 35 players, but only 27 on aide. The Geography/location of the school is important too; see how your parents feel about you being two states away, let alone a different region. Lastly, it’s not too early to have a general idea of what majors are offered on your list. Stay on track with your academic progress. Having good grades and test scores will make a huge difference in the schools you can consider. Check the NCAA’s minimum academic requirements.http://web1.ncaa.org/ECWR2/NCAA_EMS/NCAA.jsp While it is likely to happen more during 16U, you will likely begin to get letters to attend college camps and individual showcases. While player development is important at all HS ages, it is paramount during 15U, so budget your time accordingly for development.
16U Players – Review the list you developed as a 15U player, because your focus will have changed a bit. Some schools will pick up the more developed sophomores on the heels of the HS season, but that is the exception, and not the norm. You need to create a baseball resume and don’t get hung up on format. However, having a resume will ultimately help shape your e-mail correspondences with schools. You are trying to sell yourself to the college recruiters who are contacted by hundreds of other players. College Showcases & Camps are a better option this year, particularly if it appears a particular school is taking more interest in you than others, but we build schedules to get you the exposure you need, and because of the schedule we build, you may start getting inundated with camp information. You will have to gauge as to whether it’s a generic camp or a more serious and genuine show of interest. We can help with that. Typically, if a school invites you to a camp, a good question to ask them is, “have you seen me play.” A video is also a great way to spark college interest or confirm how sincere their interest is; and much more inexpensive than traveling to multiple showcases outside of the schedule we build for you. Please inquire if you would like help with setting up a professional video, this is not something the average parent should risk and undertake on their own.
17U Players - This is your big summer & most likely the deciding season as to your chances at Division I, II or III. We will help gauge the school interest and your talent level to find the best fit. Participating in extra-curricular camps and showcases outside of your Combat schedule will pay the biggest dividends during this year, but still costly from a fiscal standpoint. As with your previous year’s schedules, we develop a schedule which offers you the exposure you need, but if a specific school is trying to decide on whether you warrant an offer, attending their particular camp makes sense. You can go broke attending camps and individual showcases. Pick ones that have multiple schools attending, or ones that are local in the area and don’t require hotels, eating out, or excessive gas mileage. You can call a coach anytime, but they cannot call you until after your junior year ends. They are not allowed to speak to you directly unless you call or are present on their campus. They will use our coaches to relay messages or have you call them at a certain time.
· No Official Visits (school cannot pay for any part of the visit) · Unlimited Unofficial Visits · Unlimited contact through mail and email; Coaches cannot text or IM recruits. · Recruits can call schools, but schools cannot call recruits, even to return messages
18U Players · Recruit may take up to 5 official visits (may start taking visits once Sr year of HS has begun) - Unlimited unofficial visits · Phone calls are unlimited during evaluation periods after July 1st · Phone calls are limited to 1 time per week during quiet periods after July 1st · National Letter of Intent: Early period is 2nd week in November.
Recruiting Terms and Current NCAA Legislation
Contact - A contact is any face-to-face encounter between a prospect or the prospect’s parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) and an institutional staff member or athletics representative during which any dialogue occurs in excess of an exchange of a greeting. Any such face-to-face encounter that is prearranged (e.g., positions himself/herself in a location where contact is possible) or that takes place on the grounds of the prospect’s educational institution or at the site of organized competition or practice involving the prospect or the prospect’s high school, preparatory school, two-year college or all-star team shall be considered a contact, regardless of whether any conversation occurs. However, an institutional staff member or athletics representative who is approached by a prospect or the prospect’s parents, relatives or legal guardian(s) at any location shall not use a contact, provided the encounter was not prearranged and the staff member or athletics representative does not engage in any dialogue in excess of a greeting and takes appropriate steps to immediately terminate the encounter.
Contact period - permissible for authorized athletic department staff members to make in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts and evaluations.
Dead period - not permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts or evaluations on- or off-campus or permit official or unofficial visits.
Evaluation - Evaluation is any off-campus activity designed to assess the academic qualifications or athletics ability of a prospect, including any visit to a prospect’s educational institution (during which no contact occurs) or the observation of a prospect participating in any practice or competition at any site.
Evaluation Days - An evaluation day is defined as one coach engaged in the evaluation of any prospect on one day (12:01 a.m. to midnight); two coaches making evaluations on the same day shall use two evaluation days.
Evaluation period - permissible for authorized athletics department staff to be involved in off-campus activities to assess academic qualifications and playing abilities. No in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts with a prospective student-athlete are permitted.
Quiet period - permissible to make in-person recruiting contacts only on the member institution's campus.
Recruited Prospective Student-Athlete - Actions by staff members or athletics representatives that cause a prospect to become a recruited prospect at that institution are:
a. Providing the prospect with an official visit (Each prospect is allowed 5 official visits and cannot be taken until your senior year);
b. Having an arranged, in-person, off-campus encounter with the prospect or the prospect’s parent(s), relatives or legal guardian(s);
c. Initiating or arranging a telephone contact with the prospect, the prospect’s relatives or legal guardian(s) on more than one occasion for the purpose of recruitment; or
d. Issuing a National Letter of Intent or the institution’s written offer of athletically related financial aid to the prospect (excluding summer term awards prior to initial full-time enrollment).
Practice or Competition Site - Recruiting contact may not be made with a prospect prior to any athletics competition in which the prospect is a participant during the day or days of competition, even if the prospect is on an official or unofficial visit. Contact includes the passing of notes to a prospective by a third party on behalf of an institutional staff member. Contact shall not be made with the prospect as follows:
a. At any site prior to the contest on the day or days of competition;
b. From the time the prospect reports on call and becomes involved in competition-related activity to the end of the competition;
c. After the competition, including competition that requires more than one day of participation (e.g., a tournament), until the prospect is released by the appropriate institutional authority and departs the dressing and meeting facility; and
d. Coaching staff members may send general correspondence to a prospect while the prospect is participating in an athletics event, provided the general correspondence is sent directly to a prospect (e.g., the front desk of the hotel, the prospective student-athlete’s personal fax machine) and there is no additional party (e.g., camp employee, coach) involved in disseminating the correspondence.
Telephone Calls - All electronically transmitted human voice exchange (including videoconferencing and idiophones) shall be considered telephone calls. All electronically transmitted correspondence (e.g., electronic mail, facsimiles) shall not be considered telephone calls.
Divisions I and II-Printed Recruiting Materials - A Division I or Division II institution may not provide recruiting materials to a prospect (including general correspondence related to athletics) until September 1 at the beginning of the prospect's junior year in high school.
Electronic Transmissions-Divisions I and II - Facsimiles and electronic mail may be sent to a prospect. Prearranged electronically transmitted correspondence between an authorized institutional staff member and one or more prospects shall be considered a telephone call.
Prearranged Electronic Communication - Electronically transmitted correspondence between an institutional staff member and a prospective student-athlete shall be considered prearranged whenever a time and method for such electronic correspondence has been designated in advance. Any electronic correspondence sent by "instant messenger" or similar means also would be considered a telephone call, regardless of whether such forms of communication are prearranged.
The National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospective student-athlete's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year. Additional information can be obtained through the NLI program Web page at www.national-letter.org. Please contact the NCAA membership services staff at 317/917-6222 if you have further questions.
