2023-24 NCAA Football Recruiting Rules and Calendar (2024)

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 sophom*ore 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.

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.

NCAA Division 1 football recruiting rules

D1 football coaches can send athletesrecruiting questionnaires,camp brochures and non-athletic institutional publications freshman and sophom*ore year. Effective for the 2023-24 school year, the NCAA now allows contact between coaches and athletes to begin June 15 of the athlete’s junior year.

Junior Year:

• June 15 before junior year: Athletes can receive any form of private, electronic communication. This includes emails, recruiting materials, texts and direct messages on social media.
• April 1 through the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June: A college may pay for a prospective student-athlete and two family members to visit campus. After this date, a college may offer an expense-paid visit after Sept. 1 of senior year.

Senior Year:

• July 1before senior year: Coaches can contact athletes off-campus, but only during the contact periods. Coaches are only allowed six off-campus contacts with each student-athlete.
• First day of classes: Athletes can take unlimited official visits. Only one per school.
• September 1: Coaches can call athletes once a week after this time, and they can call recruits unlimited times during the contact period.

Evaluation days: Coaches can evaluate each recruitthree 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:

• Any time: Athletes can receive brochures for camps, recruiting questionnaires, NCAA materials and non-athletic recruiting publications.
• June 15 after sophom*ore year: Athletes can begin taking official visits. Coaches can also communicate with recruits electronically (via private texts, social media DMs, instant messages, etc.). Athletes are able to receive calls from coaches, and coaches can conduct in-person, off-campus recruiting contact. Finally, after this date, coaches can approach a recruit’s coach at a competition (game, camp, etc.) throughout the contact periods.
• Evaluations: Coaches are not restricted in how many times they can evaluate a student-athlete at the D2 level. Coaches just have to make sure that they don’t communicate with the recruits until their practice/competition has ended and they’ve been released by their coach or the proper authority.

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 sophom*ore year of high school.

2023–2024NCAA Division 1 and Division 2football 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 2023-24 NCAArecruiting 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

• Aug. 1–31, 2023
  • Except for: the 48 hours prior to a home game during August and September 1–2 through the 48 hours after the game. This is a quiet period.
• Dec. 18, 2023 – Jan. 11, 2024
  • Except for: the seven days before the first day of classes. This is a quiet period for student-athletes enrolling midyear.
• Feb. 4 – Mar. 3, 2024
• May 26 – 29, 2024
• Jun. 25 – Jul. 24, 2024

Division 1 FCS

• Aug. 1–31, 2023
  • Except for: the 48 hours prior to a home game during August and September 1–2 through the 48 hours after the game. This is a quiet period.
• Nov. 27–30, 2023
• Dec. 18, 2023 – Jan. 11, 2024
  • Except for: the seven days before the first day of classes. This is a quiet period for student-athletes enrolling midyear.

Division 2

• Dec. 18 (7 am) – Dec. 20 (7 am), 2023 (only for two-year prospective athletes who intend to enroll midyear)
• Jan. 8 – 10, 2024
• Feb. 5 ( 7 am) – Feb. 7 (7 am) 2024

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

• Dec. 17, 2023
• Mar. 4 – Apr. 14, 2024
• Jun. 1–23, 2024
• Jul. 25-31, 2024

Division 1 FCS

• During August and September 1–2, 2023: the 48 hours prior to a home game through the 48 hours after the game. This is a quiet period.
• Sept. 1 – Nov. 26, 2023
  • Except for: coaches can take 56 evaluation days during September, October and November.
• Dec. 17, 2023
• The seven days immediately before the first day of classes of the institution’s second academic term.
• Jan. 3 – 7, 2024 for midyear enrollees only
• Mar. 4 – Apr. 14, 2024
• All days in April and May not used for an athletic or academic evaluation are quiet periods.
• May 30 – Jul. 31, 2024

Division 2

• Jun. 1 through the start of recruit’s first regularly scheduled football practice
• Mar. 12 – May 31, 2024 (except for the four weeks treated as part of the evaluation period)

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

• Sep. 1 – Nov. 26, 2023

Division 2

• During the recruit’s high school or two-year college football season, based on the first regularly scheduled practice before the start of the regular season
• Nov. 1 – Nov. 26, 2023
• Apr. 15 – May 31, 2024 (the four weeks each member school designates as an evaluation period, excluding Memorial Day and Sundays)

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

• Dec. 1 – 16, 2023
• Jan. 12 – Feb 3, 2024 (National Service Academies only)
• Apr. 15 – May 25, 2024

Division 2

• For two-year college (junior college) prospects, the period from the conclusion of their last college football game through Nov. 26, 2023 is a contact period
• Nov. 27, 2023 – Mar. 11, 2024
  • Except for: the dates part of the dead period

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.