*Originally Published on 04/07/2022
I've made it clear from the beginning of these new recruiting rules that I wasn't a fan of them. In general I feel like they are misdirected and do nothing to fix the issues they were set up to fix. Not only that, but the schools and conferences that were the biggest proponents of these new rules because they needed to, "slow down recruiting" have done little to nothing to actually slow down their recruiting processes. I think that taking away the unofficial visits for younger athletes has been one of the biggest negatives and a detriment to athletes across the country (blog coming later on this topic). All of that being said, I understand that we are still within all of the COVID eligibility craziness and have realistically yet to see these new rules applied in a consistent way and we won't, even after June 15th of this year. So, while some might say my statements about the new rules are unfair, I honestly don't see my reservations about the new rules changing EVEN when we are able to have a recruiting class without crazy outside variables.
I totally agree with just saying “no” to athletes coaches are not interested in. These athletes spend hours creating highlight videos and emailing coaches to never get a response. A simple email stating their recruiting class is full or they have identified their list of pin hitters for the class of 20XX allows the athlete to mark them off the list and move on to other schools. This would also reduce the number of emails coaches are receiving. It’s a win win.