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2024-25 NCAA Football Recruiting Rules and Calendar

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The NCAA football recruiting rules and calendar outline when and how college coaches can reach out to athletes. These rules are in place to protect elite athletes from getting overwhelming amounts of contact from college coaches. However, they can be a little misleading as they don’t accurately represent when recruiting really starts for football. When student-athletes start the recruiting process, one of their first questions is: “When can college coaches contact high school athletes?” For Division 1 football, the NCAA recently updated the recruiting rules to allow college coaches to start reaching out to recruits June 15 of before the start of their junior year of high school via all electronic communications, which includes texting, emailing and social media direct messages.

D2 coaches can reach out to recruits starting June 15 after the athlete’s sophomore year via electronic communications, recruiting materials, phone calls and in-person, off-campus recruiting contacts. D3 and NAIA coaches don’t have any restrictions on when they can begin contacting recruits, but they generally wait until around junior year unless a recruit is reaching out to them and showing interest in their school. 

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How to use the recruiting rules and calendar
NCAA D1 football recruiting rules
NCAA D2 football recruiting rules
NCAA D3 and NAIA football recruiting rules
2024-2025 NCAA recruiting calendar

How can you use the NCAA football recruiting rules and calendar in your recruiting?

Families can use the NCAA football recruiting rules and NCAA football recruiting calendar to make sure they’re on track in their recruiting. For example, if it’s June 15 of the athlete’s junior year of high school, they can receive emails, texts and DMs from D1, D2, D3 and NAIA coaches. If they haven’t heard from any coaches at this point, they know you have some work to do to get on their radar! The recruiting calendar is also a good way for athletes and their coaches to organize their recruiting efforts for the year. For example, if an athlete is a senior in high school during a contact period, they should arrange campus visits and maximize coach contact during this time.

Related articles

NCAA Division 1 football recruiting rules

D1 football coaches can send athletes recruiting questionnaires, camp brochures and non-athletic institutional publications freshman and sophomore year.

Junior Year:

Senior Year:

Evaluation days: Coaches can evaluate each recruit three times. They can take one evaluation per recruit in the fall, and then two evaluations from April 15 to May 31.

NCAA Division 2 football recruiting rules

The NCAA football recruiting rules for Division 2 are the same across all sports. For football, the rules are slightly more relaxed than those for Division 1:

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA football recruiting rules

D3 and NAIA colleges are generally left to create their own recruiting rules and schedules. They don’t have limits on when coaches can contact recruits. The only standardized rule for D3 schools is that coaches are not allowed to meet with recruits or their families off-campus until the athlete has completed their sophomore year of high school.

2024-2025 NCAA Division 1 and Division 2 football recruiting calendar

Throughout the school year, specific types of contact with college coaches are permitted during certain times at the D1 and D2 level. Layer the 2024-25 NCAA recruiting calendar on top of the recruiting rules to determine what type of contact to expect based on your age and the time of year.

Dead period: During the dead period, coaches may not have any in-person contact with recruits and/or their parents. They are not allowed to talk to recruits at their college campus, the athlete’s school, an athletic camp or even the grocery store.

Division 1 FBS

Division 1 FCS

Division 2

Quiet period: The quiet period is a time you can talk to college coaches in-person on their college campus. However, the coach is not allowed to watch athletes compete in-person, visit their school, talk to them at their home—or talk to them anywhere outside of the college campus.

Division 1 FBS

Division 1 FCS

 Division 2

Evaluation period: This is a specific time of year when college coaches are allowed to watch an athlete compete in person or visit their school. However, coaches are not allowed to communicate with that athlete (or their parents) off the college campus. 

Division 1 FBS and FCS

Contact period: The NCAA contact period is exactly what it sounds like—all communication between athletes and coaches is fair game. In other words, the communication floodgates are open, so take advantage of this opportunity to get unlimited access to coaches.

Division 1 FBS and FCS

Insider tip: While it’s always helpful to be familiar with the NCAA recruiting rules and calendar, it’s really up to the college coaches to comply with the rules. As an athlete, you can email, call or DM a coach at any time. It’s the coach’s responsibility to check the rules before they respond.