NCAA Institutes Mandatory Dead Period For Recruiting

Concerns over COVID-19 coronavirus leads to suspension of recruiting until April 15.

One day after the Big Ten declared a moratorium on on-campus and off-campus recruiting over concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus, the NCAA announced a mandatory dead period for recruiting in all sports until April 15.

That means no on-campus and off-campus in-person contact with recruits, but coaches can still have phone calls and electronic communication with recruits.

Football Bowl Subdivision teams were in a quiet period, which allowed recruits to make on-campus visits. An evaluation period is set to begin on April 15 and run through May 31.

On Thursday, the Big Ten said schools would not be able to have any on-campus and off-campus recruiting activities "for the foreseeable future." Other Power-5 conferences made the same declaration.

Prospective recruits in the 2021 class could have made official visits beginning April 1.

Iowa had a Junior Day on March 1. The Hawkeyes have seven commitments for the 2021 class.

A look at the recruiting schedules of some other sports:

Men's basketball: Recruiting period through March 31. A quiet period on April 1. A dead period from April 2-9. Another recruiting period from April 9-30, with a dead period from April 13-16 and evaluation periods from April 17-19 and April 24-26. A quiet period begins May 1 and runs through July 5, with evaluation periods on June 17-18, June 19-21 and June 26-28.

Iowa had no scholarships available for the spring signing period.

Women's basketball: A contact period runs through April 1. A dead period runs April 2-16, with the exception being a quiet period from April 10-12 . An evaluation period runs from April 17-21. A quiet period goes from April 22-July 5, with the exception of an April 24-26 evaluation period, a May 4-10 recruiting shutdown, and a May 15-17 evaluation period.