It’s become clear in recent years that the NCAA’s college football recruiting rules need to be revamped in several ways, and the association appears to be taking some steps toward doing just that.
As On3 reported this week, the NCAA is considering a change that would make it easier for coaches to recruit players during their junior seasons of high school.
“The biggest potential change being considered is opening up the restrictions around the ‘bump rule’ and off-campus visits for juniors. With the new rules, coaches would be free to visit prospects that are juniors in high school for off-campus visits during the spring contact period for one visit,” On3 wrote this week. “This is currently not permissible under the so-called bump rule,’ which requires coaches who bump into a prospect outside of the allowable parameters to keep the interaction to a brief greeting.”
Obviously, this is just the tip of the iceberg of changes that the association needs to consider, especially given the chaos surrounding NIL, but it’s a start.
“We wanted to maintain and strengthen the scholastic recruiting model for football, prioritize coach work/life balance and attention to current student-athletes and rules that are enforceable and monitorable, as well as creating transparency in the recruiting process,” said Jean Gee, the chair of the subcommittee reviewing recruiting in a release announcing the proposed changes. “The subcommittee developed these recommendations through regular and numerous meetings, review of membership feedback from a variety of constituents and collaboration with FBS and FCS conferences.”
We’ll have to see how this changes college football recruiting going forward.
[On3]
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