Recruits Keep Getting Younger
Ever desperate to find any edge in the cutthroat business of recruiting, coaches have been targeting younger and younger players. Kentucky's Billy Gillespie drew criticism last summer for offering a scholarship to an eighth grader, but Gillespie is far from alone in looking to junior high schools for players.
Exclusive Camps
Another concern for the NCAA: the growing trend of college coaches working at exclusive, elite camps for junior high-age players. Many felt that the exposure to players at that age gave some coaches an unfair "leg up" in the recruiting process -- which would inevitably lead to more coaches getting involved.Contact with Prospects is Regulated
Before this rule change, players in junior high were not considered prospects -- and as such, contact between those players and college coaches was totally unregulated. Now, any contact between players in seventh grade and above will be governed by the NCAA's Byzantine rule book, which specifies when, where and how such meetings can take place.Does It Go Far Enough?
The recruiting game being what it is, I doubt it will be long before we hear about some enterprising coach running a camp for sixth graders. It would probably make a lot more sense for the NCAA to issue a sweeping regulation staying that any player who hasn't entered high school is off-limits... but that would be too easy.I'd also support stronger guidelines for when schools can accept verbal commitments from recruits. Dick Weiss of the New York Daily News suggested that no verbals should be allowed before eleventh grade, which would make a lot of sense.
For now, at least, the new regulation applies only to men's basketball.
Poll:What school year should students reach before college coaches can begin recruiting them?
