New NCAA football rules announced April 14 signal course changes in the FBS’s handling of camps, practices and recruiting.<\/p>\n
The rules primarily address these Association’s concerns:<\/p>\n
Coaches? \u00a0They get some relief on the front end of recruiting. \u00a0However, they will be hard-pressed to get the same work done with less on-field practice time. \u00a0Doubtlessly, we are about to see some interesting creativity in team scheduling.<\/p>\n
Below is a brief synopsis of the four most attention-grabbing rules.<\/p>\n
New NCAA football rules. \u00a0An early signing period in football? \u00a0Done deal. \u00a0Yet, this signing date is different. \u00a0It swerves away from the Association’s weeklong traditional early signing period in early November. \u00a0It is shorter, we are told, by four days. \u00a0Also, this version is in December, just before the Christmas holiday.<\/p>\n
Northwestern University’s AD\u00a0Jim Phillips<\/a> headed up the group green-lighting the changes. \u00a0In a NCAA press release, Phillips said,\u00a0\u201cToday\u2019s adoption of the football legislation marks the most significant progress in recent years. \u00a0(It will) improve the football environment and culture for current and prospective student-athletes and coaches.”<\/p>\n Many recruiting-savvy onlookers believe this will benefit all concerned (see below). There are those, however, who express mixed emotions about the changes. Chief among their misgivings, and it is a big one, is the diminishing of national signing day in February, long held in high esteem.<\/p>\n New NCAA football rules. \u00a0Not coincidentally, one new rule mimics D-I basketball. It is the addition of a spring official visit period. \u00a0Only academically qualified juniors can take advantage. \u00a0To start next April 1, it lasts until Sunday before the last Wednesday in June.<\/p>\n FBS coaches love that kind of early access to prospects and parents. \u00a0And why not? \u00a0It is a full five months sooner than the previous rule permitted. \u00a0Currently, official visits must squeeze between the first day of athletes’ senior year and February 1, football’s regular signing period start date. Hence, this time crunch puts undue pressure on athletes. \u00a0The new, earlier dates eliminate some of that.<\/p>\n New NCAA football rules. \u00a0Satellite camps are history. \u00a0However, there is an obvious compromise. \u00a0Now, coaches may invite other staffs to their on-campus camps to assist.<\/p>\n The satellite shoot-down is in response to the ruckus caused by the University of Michigan’s football team which has been traveling out of state to hold drills. \u00a0The loudest outcries, of course, came from SEC and ACC coaches. Harbaugh, a NCAA nemesis bent on pushing the rules, was want to work out his Wolverines in southern states. UM’s actions caused such a stink that we now have a new rule. Fair enough, although we are likely to hear a good bit of grumbling out of Ann Arbor for a while.<\/p>\n Then, Part II came to pass because of the initial knee-jerk reaction the NCAA had to Harbaugh\u2019s southern invasion. Overreacting has long been a NCAA weakness, and this was no exception. \u00a0Banning, say, FCS coaches from attending, helping and being hired to work big-school camps benefited no one. \u00a0The NCAA smartly hit delete on that one. \u00a0Moreover, they gave coaches a bonus, you know, like a make-up call. \u00a0With the new rule, coaches can recruit at camps which is a complete 180 for the Association.<\/p>\n New NCAA football rules. \u00a0When the end of two-a-day practices was announced, an audible gasp could be heard nationwide. \u00a0That collective sigh you may have heard came from football players everywhere. \u00a0Not surprisingly, traditionalists bemoan the decree. \u00a0Naturally, progressives roundly praise it.<\/p>\n Studies have shown that concussions are as likely to occur during practices as in games. \u00a0The data finally convinced ADs and coaches that their players, and teams, would be better served cutting back on contact. \u00a0We will see in time if this call makes a measurable difference, but most clued-up football people agree that two-a-days are, like\u00a0satellite\u00a0camps, a thing of the past.<\/p>\n The more telling impact, however, will be when football programs at all levels adopt the same set of guidelines. That should happen post-haste.<\/p>\n National Scouting Report<\/a>, \u00a0as the largest on-the-ground, high school scouting\u00a0organization on the globe, has well-informed football scouts with mixed emotions on the legislative shifts.<\/p>\n NSR’s development director,\u00a0Larry Perrin<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0<\/strong>opined, “To me personally, I feel that the luster and pageantry of National Signing Day might lessen by the early signing period. \u00a0It will, nonetheless, clear up the recruiting picture for tweener-type athletes (FCS probably, FBS maybe).” \u00a0Perrin, who played wide receiver at Henderson State University, added, “It will be interesting to see how many athletes choose to enroll early after signing.”<\/p>\n Jeff Schaum<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is a scout for NSR covering American football and other sports on the Florida panhandle. \u00a0He was a football coach for 32 years before coming on board with NSR. \u00a0He and wife Gigi, both NSR scouts, constantly evaluate athletes and converse with college coaches. \u00a0“I think that early signing opens up the recruiting process for lower-star-type players,” Schaum offered. \u00a0A Colgate alum, where he played football,\u00a0Shaum\u00a0served on legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden’s staff as a grad assistant.<\/p>\n “The new official visit period allows early graduates to enroll early,” Shaum predicts. \u00a0“This encourages more athletes to consider early\/spring enrollment at the D-I schools.\u00a0 As it currently stands, the athletes who enroll early have a better chance of contributing than those in the fall.”<\/p>\n NSR’s vice president of marketing is\u00a0Robert Cagle<\/strong><\/a>. \u00a0He played football for the Ole Miss Rebels. \u00a0“First of all, the NCAA’s rule change (on) official visits and an early signing period let the Power 5 schools and the mid-majors get top athletes locked down,” Cagle observed.<\/p>\n Therefore, this allows the recruiting picture to clear for the small D-I and D-II staffs. \u00a0And, this will let high school athletes know who is really recruiting them. \u00a0It removes the drawn-out time many athletes hold on to thinking a\u00a0big school is coming (to recruit them) late,” Cagle offered.<\/p>\n As a result, it also forces families to realize that recruiting happens earlier than they think,” Cagle said. \u00a0“For us as scouts, that is an educational point people sometimes resist. \u00a0Perhaps now, with these rules, their understanding will come easier.”<\/p>\n Note: \u00a0For more information on the new NCAA football rules, contact the NSR scout near you<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New NCAA football rules announced April 14 signal course changes in the FBS’s handling of camps, practices and recruiting. The rules primarily address these Association’s concerns: Prospects’ well-being during recruiting Players’ safety Players’ health Coaches? \u00a0They get some relief on the front end of recruiting. \u00a0However, they will be hard-pressed to get the same work … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":14117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,864,859,5],"tags":[301,10,11,1104,31,56,57,1101,222,1099,94,1100,1103,1102],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14090"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14141,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14090\/revisions\/14141"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsr-inc.com\/scouting-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Junior year official visits<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Camps and clinics<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Two-a-days<\/strong><\/h2>\n
New NCAA football rules – scouts’ perspectives<\/strong><\/h2>\n