College Football Recruiting Rules

Recruiting college football players is a process where colleges try to persuade a high school student-athlete to play at their school. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) defines recruiting as “any solicitation of prospective student-athletes or their parents by an institutional staff member or by a representative of the institution’s athletics interests for the purpose of securing a prospective student-athlete’s enrollment and ultimate participation in the institution’s intercollegiate athletics program.”

  1. Recruiting Rules

    • College football players are not professionals—they are amateurs. Coaches must follow rules to recruit them to play at their school. Recruiting a player requires phone calls, emails and visitations. The NCAA has created rules to ensure that college football programs don't violate the lives of recruits. The rules also enforce fair play. According to the NCAA, "The recruiting process must balance the interests of prospective student-athletes and the Association's member institutions. The NCAA recruiting bylaw is designed to promote equity among member schools in the recruitment of prospective student-athletes and to shield the recruited individuals from undue pressures that may interfere with their scholastic or athletics interests." Schools can't exceedingly contact a recruit. Coaches also cannot act excessively in visiting recruits. For example, a college football coach cannot show up in a helicopter to visit a high school player. College football programs can only sign a limited number of players in a given time period. "The Division I Legislative Council approved legislation for Football Bowl Subdivision programs to specify an annual limit of 28 on the number of prospective student-athletes who may sign a National Letter of Intent or an institutional offer of financial aid from the initial signing date of the regular signing period of the National Letter of Intent through May 31," NCAA code reads. "The legislation also reduces the number of signed prospective student-athletes signed who are unlikely to meet NCAA academic-eligibility requirements."

    Rules Violations

    • In college football recruiting, paying a player or promising him payment to get him to commit to a school violates the rules. An athlete loses eligibility when he and the school break these rules. The NCAA disciplines the school as well. The NCAA punishes recruits and schools for also sending and accepting gifts. A school also cannot contact a recruit too many times or outside of the contact period.

    Rules Enforcement

    • The NCAA and its enforcement staff watch for violations. According to the NCAA, "When the enforcement staff has a legitimate reason to believe a member school violated NCAA rules, they may initiate an investigation." Before the investigation, the NCAA alerts the school of the allegations. If the enforcement staff find proof of violations, they announce their findings. The school responds. to allegations. The enforcement staff compiles a case summary and then files a summary disposition. If all investigation parties agree on the findings of the violations, they hold an infractions hearing. The NCAA penalizes the school during the infractions hearing. The school appeals the infractions if they disagree with the penalty.