Loopholes In College Recruitment Practices
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - How young is too young for colleges to start recruiting star football players?
Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting. It made the news last month when they posted the football profile of a player who is 5'2, 105 pounds. Sound small to you? Not for a sixth grader.
For the first time, Rivals.com began posting stats for promising players who will be the class of 2021. High school. Doesn't the NCAA have rules preventing college programs from recruiting, you know, toddlers?
There are NCAA rules on recruiting. There are also loopholes. Coaches at NCAA Division I and II schools aren't allowed to send any specific recruiting materials before the summer of a player's junior year but coaches can send - questionnaires, camp brochures and general college information from the admissions department at any time during high school.
And prospects are allowed to visit campuses at their own expense any time.
These campus tours, or so-called "unofficial visits" can occur even when the prospect is very young (even in middle schoolers for example) and NCAA rules allow coaches to meet with prospects on campus during unofficial visits regardless of the prospect's age or year in school.
And you thought telling your 10-year-old to study was how to get him into college.
