Recruiting FAQ

Ok, it's almost hardcore recruiting season. People always have questions, so here are some answers to commonly asked questions. If anyone wants another question answered, post a comment or send an e-mail.

1. When is signing day?

There are several signing periods; there is no "signing day." For junior college mid-year football transfers, the signing period is December 19, 2007, until January 15, 2008. The general signing period is from February 6, 2008, until April 1, 2008. If anyone is curious, basketball has two signing periods. The early period is November 14-21, 2007, and the regular period is April 16, 2008, until May 21, 2008.

The "signing date" is ONLY associated with the signing of a National Letter of Intent, which is binding on the player and the school. Schools may make non-binding scholarship agreements at any time.

For more information and a full calendar of signing dates, see the national letter of intent site.

2. What is a letter of intent?

Courtesy the National Letter of Intent website:

By signing a National Letter of Intent, a prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the designated college or university for one academic year. Pursuant to the terms of the National Letter of Intent program, participating institutions agree to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year to the student-athlete, provided he/she is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules. An important provision of the National Letter of Intent program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs a Letter of Intent. This prohibition requires participating institutions cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once a National Letter of Intent is signed with another institution.

For more information, see the national letter of intent site.

3. When are quiet periods and dead periods?

For a full calendar of recruiting periods for football, see the NCAA Football Recruiting calendar.

For a full calendar of recruiting periods for basketball, see the NCAA Basketball Recruiting calendar.

Another helpful tool from the NCAA is a NCAA Recruiting Chart.

4. What is grayshirting?

From the National Letter of Intent website, “'Grayshirting' is a term used in the recruiting process to describe situations in which a student-athlete delays initial enrollment in a collegiate institution to the winter or spring term after the traditional academic year begins. Students who 'grayshirt' often use the fall to take classes part time or choose not to enroll in college at all. 'Grayshirting' is not a formal designation by the NCAA or the National Letter of Intent program."

5. What can I do?

In simplest terms, nothing. Please let the coaches recruit. Please do not contact recruits via facebook, myspace, e-mail, or in any other way. Also, Kansas State has a pamphlet for fans to read. Please read it and live by it. Don't endanger your school!

6. Where can I find more information from the NCAA?

There are several places. The first is an NCAA website. Second, check out bylaw 13 of the 2007-08 Division I Manual.

7. Can you explain the numbers thing? How many student-athletes can sign letters of intent?

I don't have a website for reference for you here, but I will explain. First, a division one football team may only have 85 student athletes on scholarship at any time. During each year, a school may aware 25 scholarships to new counters. (A walk-on in his second year or later would not be a new counter; a counter is any one of the 85 scholarships.) A school theoretically may sign as many as they want to, but may award only 25 scholarships (new counters) maximum. It's bad practice to over-sign and then not have the awards available. Another issue is count backs. Mid-year junior college players may "count back" to the previous years recruiting class if and only if the previous year did not have 25 new counters. Also, a school may not go over the 85 scholarship limit at any time.

8. What are the initial eligibility requirements?

Again, a website helps with that. Check out the NCAA clearinghouse for more information.