What it means: Division I recruiting dead period extended to April 15

Phillips Exeter and Lawrence Academy meet at the 2018 Northeast Soccer Jamboree. (Mike Gridley/New England Soccer Journal)

Players hoping to get evaluated in-person by Division I college coaches will have to wait even longer, with the NCAA’s D-I Council announcing this past Wednesday that the recruiting dead period has been extended to April 15, 2021.

The same rules still apply, meaning D-I coaches can talk with Class of 2021 and Class of 2022 players through virtual means, call club/school coaches for feedback and watch highlight tapes and full-game reels. But D-I coaches can’t watch games in-person or host potential recruits on campus, limitations that are now scheduled to last roughly 13 months.

Each dead period is shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic’s continued course, and there have been over 12 million reported positive cases and over 254,000 reported deaths in the United States as of publication. The dead period was extended to Jan. 1 two months ago ...