The football dead period starts today for high school recruits across the country. The dead period means there is restricted face-to-face contact between college coaches and potential recruits. While you are still able to call and email with college coaches during this time, it is easy to lose ground in your recruiting because of the chaos during post-season football and the holidays.
College coaches are just as busy during the off season as they are during a regular football season. That means the limited in person contact during a dead period forces you to rely on email and phone calls to stay in touch with them. That also means you are fighting other recruits to get a hold of the college coaches and have them respond.
Use the Football Dead Period to Catch Up
Since you can’t make plans to see college coaches in person and it’s almost time for your holiday break, high school football players should use the extra time to catch up and get ahead in the recruiting process.
Here are the best ways to make the most of the football dead period:
- Update your profile, highlight tape: now that your football season is over, you should update your recruiting profile with your recent stats and get new game footage onto your highlight tape.
- Schedule official and unofficial visits: Taking trips to the schools is the best way to experience what each college has to offer. Don’t wait for official visits to be given to you, take advantage of the time you have now to get organized and plan on making visits to local schools if you can.
- Check your NCAA Eligibility: Log into your NCAA profile to make sure you have everything you need to be cleared for eligibility; this includes test scores, transcripts, and anything else required.
Tips for Non-Recruits During the Football Dead Period
Football players in the recruiting process are subject to the recruiting calendar rules and restrictions. However, if you have not already been in contact with college coaches, you technically may not be a recruit (check out this blog to see what defines a recruit by the NCAA). That means you should be focusing on other tasks during the dead period.
- Research schools: Now is the time to catch up to the recruits already talking to college coaches. Do research into the colleges that you are interested in and find the contact information for the coach at that school.
- Talk to your coach: Your coach can be one of the best people to get feedback and advice from for your recruiting. Ask them about your strengths and weaknesses and what division level they think might be best suited for you.
- Recruiting Profiles and Questionnaires: Get an online profile started so you can easily upload your stats and videos from coaches to see. Then visit the each college team website and fill out the recruiting questionnaire, so that your information gets puts directly into their system. (Do this in addition to sending the coaches your information).
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