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All Division I sports will return to their regular recruiting calendars beginning June 1st.

The NCAA Division I Council approved the return to recruiting activities during its video conference this week, and made the official announcement on Thursday.

A ban on in-person recruiting had been in place for more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Coaches will again be permitted to visit recruits off campus, hold camps on campus and host official visits for prospective athletes.

Council members acknowledged that schools in different areas of the country could still be limited based on campus, local and state health and safety requirements.

“This is great news for all college coaches and more importantly for the prospective student-athletes, whom I believe have gotten the worst of all of this COVID related adjustments,” TCU men’s coach David Roditi said. “Recruits will be able to meet coaches in person now and be able to visit campuses and therefore make a more informed decision. Ultimately this will help both sides and hopefully decrease the amount of transferring in the future”

Council members also granted a waiver to allow school staff to participate in a call with any number of uncommitted prospective student-athletes in any sport, and to allow student-athletes to participate in phone calls with a coach and prospective student-athletes.

The Council also approved a blanket waiver allowing full-time institutional staff members, current athletes and all coaches, including volunteer coaches, to initiate recruiting calls involving prospective student-athletes whom an institution is permitted to call. The waiver will be in effect from June 1-Dec. 31, 2021, and requires staff who are not making or receiving calls under an existing legislated exemption to pass the recruiting exam before making or receiving calls.

Division I has been in a recruiting dead period since March 13, 2020 after the COVID-19 outbreak shut down college sports. The dead period has been extended eight times since, with the last time in February.

For the past year, college coaches have resorted to only Zoom calls, phone calls, emails, text messages and social media to contact recruits.

“It has definitely been a new challenge to recruit without being in contact with players or seeing them play,” Oklahoma State women’s coach Chris Young said. “I feel like there is a lot of catching up to do with seeing the younger kids and connecting with those who are close to making a decision, so the news of the dead period ending is exciting I am sure for both coaches and the students.”

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About Rhiannon Potkey

Rhiannon Potkey is a veteran sportswriter with more than two decades of experience in journalism. Potkey has covered many sports at many levels and has a passion for finding great stories. Potkey has covered the U.S. Open, junior sectional and national events, college conference championships and Davis Cup matches. Potkey is currently Content Strategist for Tennis Recruiting. You can reach Rhiannon by email at rhiannon@tennisrecruiting.net.