Clemson fans that keep up with recruiting got some not so good news on Wednesday when the NCAA Division I Council Coordination Committee announced that they have decided to extend the recruiting dead period in all sports again. It is now extended through July 31st.
Division I Council Coordination Committee extends recruiting dead period: https://t.co/kxNibUf3B2 pic.twitter.com/0cRcTbrxQp
— Inside the NCAA (@InsidetheNCAA) May 27, 2020
The committee had already extended once after being put in place due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. It was originally scheduled to end June 30th. M. Grace Calhoun (council chair and Penn athletic director) had this to say about the decision…
“The extension maintains consistent recruiting rules for all sports and allows coaches to focus on the student athletes who may be returning to campus. The committee is committed to reviewing the dead period again in late June or early July.”
The impact of this decision on men’s basketball is that it erases the coaches‘ evaluation period that was expected to take place June 17th-21st, June 26th-28th, July 9th-12th, and July 21st-26th. Basketball programs would have been allowed to have recruits visit campus for all of June and most of July and the dead period would have occurred July 6th-8th and then July 13th-20th.
The decisions impact on women’s basketball programs is that programs normally would be  allowed to have recruits on campus for all of June and would have had an evaluation period scheduled for July 6th-12th and then another on July 21st-25th.
As far as football programs are concerned, this decision means there won’t be any official visits this spring. It also nullifies the quiet period at the end of July. Football already had a dead period regularly scheduled from June 22nd to July 24th. With that originally scheduled dead period they would’ve been able to have recruits on campus from June 1st-June 21st and July 25th-July 31st.
This is where many Tiger fans would say it will be the most noticeable since this time period is when Coach Dabo Swinney and his Clemson staff usually hold their largest recruiting event known at the ‘All In Cookout’. It is usually held sometime in July, but the staff has never publicly announced the dates for it.
This cookout is when Clemson typically hosts recruits and their families, both committed and uncommitted. This event has seen some of the programs top recruits leave committed to the Tigers. Although Coach Swinney and crew have shown that they are recruiting at a high level with or without this event there is no denying how important the cookout is.
There are some other Division I sports that will be affected too. including baseball and softball. Both had contact periods originally set for most of June and July.
The question becomes how much will this extension affect the programs that are affected. Hopefully not much, but it’s almost guaranteed to affect each program to a certain extent. Clemson fans will have to take a wait and see approach.
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