NCAA Recruiting Guide

This year, the 1991 birth-year player is in the recruiting battle between the three CHL Major Junior Hockey Leagues (OHL, WHL, QMJHL) and NCAA. While the CHL leagues have no limitations as to how they can openly recruit players, the same can not be said for NCAA schools who face many restrictions. Many players and parents who are interested in the hockey and educational opportunities afforded in the NCAA often wonder if NCAA schools are interested in them when they don't hear anything from NCAA schools yet are inundated with Major Junior inquiries.

We hope that this article will clear up some misconceptions as to how NCAA schools can interact with Grade 10 (sophomore) students.

1) Recruiting Materials: Only questionnaires can be sent out. No recruiting brochures or recruiting information may be sent to an athlete.

2) Telephone Calls: College coaches can not call grade 10 students. Athletes may call coaches but in order to speak to a coach you must reach him. If a student leaves a message the coach can not call him back. Therefore, if a student is interested in a school, he needs to continually call until he reaches the coach.

Non-American student may receive 1 phone call in July once he has finished his grade 10 year.

3) Off Campus Visits: NCAA coaches are not allowed to visit a student off campus in his sophomore year. Therefore, if a CHL scout and a NCAA coach are watching the same grade 10 athlete the CHL coach can speak with him in the arena after his game while the NCAA coach can not.

4) Official Campus Visits: NCAA schools are not allowed to invite a student to their campus and pay for the trip as an "official visit".

5) Unofficial Visits: Students, at their expense, may make an unlimited amount of "unofficial visits" to the Universities they are interested.

Why are these rules set up by the NCAA, the governing body for all college athletics?
To protect the young student-athlete from the hype and distractions that come with the recruiting process that will get in the way of his education. Grade 10 student-athletes rarely make an impact in Major Junior when they are in grade 11. Yes there are the rare exceptions, but most are not ready to compete at the CHL level. At the same time, the grade 10 student is 2-3 years away from going to university. The NCAA rules are set up to try and allow the student to concentrate on his school work and continuing education. The CHL knows these rules and have set their drafts low enough in age to get to the players first so it looks like NCAA teams are not interested which could not be further from the truth.

Why are there a handful of grade 10 sophomore students who have made commitments to NCAA school given the NCAA rules?
NCAA coaches know who the top players are and some of these students have taken advantage of the opportunity to contact NCAA coaches under the NCAA rules. Make no mistake, NCAA schools want the best sophomore student athletes. Thus when great grade 10 players make the effort to visit campuses or call coaches there are verbal agreements that are reached that are then put on paper after the student's grade 11 year is completed.

For more information see the NCAA Guide for the College-Bound Student-Athlete (.pdf).