NCAA Pushes Recruiting Dead Period Through July 31

The NCAA announced Wednesday afternoon the dead period for college athletics recruiting is being extended to July 31 just one week after announcing conferences could determine when athletes could return to campus.

Currently enrolled athletes can still come to campus as early as June 1, depending on decisions made by each individual conference. For the Alabama Crimson Tide and the rest of the SEC, that date is June 8.

The Division I Council Coordination Committee did reassure that this is a flexible extension and will be revisited to fit the climate of the pandemic.

“The extension maintains consistent recruiting rules for all sports and allows coaches to focus on the student-athletes who may be returning to campus,” said Council chair M. Grace Calhoun, athletics director at Pennsylvania. “The committee is committed to reviewing the dead period again in late June or early July.”

The NCAA first extended the dead period to June 30, but said in its initial release the issue would be revisited May 27 to determine if extending to July 31 was necessary.

While it is disappointing the recruiting dead period is being extended, it doesn't mean recruiting is, well, dead. In an equally shocking yet understandable turn of events, more recruits have made verbal commitments to programs this offseason than seemingly any other year. Even if many of those commitments are placeholders for insurance against the unforeseen, recruiting news is still busy in spite of the ongoing pandemic.

Many recruiting analysts have joined our local programming on Tide 100.9 and have suggested recruiting will take a wild turn when it does open back up as recruits will finally be able to make visits and interact with coaches and programs in person.