NCAA Extends Recruiting Dead Period Through August

Will in-person recruiting resume when (or if) the football season starts?

The NCAA Division I Council has extended the recruiting dead period once again, pausing in-person contact through at least Aug. 31.

Thursday's announcement marked the fourth time since March that the NCAA has extended the dead period, during which coaches cannot have in-person contact with college-bound athletes or their parents. The council initially paused in-person recruiting after canceling winter and spring sports events due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since then, the NCAA has extended the ban to the end of May, June and July. The in-person ban does not restrict all contact, however. Coaches still can call, text and message recruits.

For Penn State and other programs, that means recruiting will remain in the virtual world. Head coach James Franklin discussed this spring how Penn State has pivoted to pitching recruits through virtual meetings with coaches, academic staff and strength staff.

"Everything we do on a [recruiting] visit, we can do virtually," Franklin said. "So if they want to have an academic meeting, a sports science meeting, a strength-and-conditioning, we can do it. So in some ways, I feel like, with some recruits, I've gotten to know them better. Because it has forced you to sit here and have in-depth conversations rather than walking around campus or walking around the facility, which is important. But on a relational level, in some ways, this has been better."

Since the NCAA instituted the dead period, Penn State has received 10 commitments for the 2021 recruiting class and one for the 2023 class.

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