Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/226422
P HIL'S C ORNE R Dead period creates new challenges along recruiting trail Just because Penn State's 2013 football season has drawn to a close, no one should get the impression that Bill O'Brien and his assistant coaches can afford to sit back and relax. At 7 a.m. Dec. 1, less than 24 hours after Penn State wrapped up its season at Wisconsin, O'Brien and his assistant coaches were assembling at the Lasch Building for a staff meeting aimed at organizing the coaches' recruiting schedules. It's likely that December and January will turn out to be among the D E C E m b E r busiest months of the year for Penn State's staff, as the coaches finish up work on the Class of 2014 in anticipation of the Feb. 5 signing day. Throughout early December, the coaches worked feverishly to strengthen their class. They were out on the road during the first week of the month and returned to campus to host a recruiting weekend Dec. 7-8. They then went back on the road – with in-home visits and state championship sideline appearances – and will continue their recruit- 1 1 , 2 0 1 3 5 ing push until Dec. 16, when a dead period begins. Enacted in October, the dead period will continue through Jan. 15. From Jan. 16 to Feb. 2, assistant coaches will once again be allowed to be on the road, except on weekends, while schools will be allowed to host official visits on campus. Schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision will have three weekends (Jan. 17-19, Jan. 24-26 and Jan. 31-Feb. 2) during which they will be able to host official visits. Head coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision are permitted to have just one off-campus person-to-person contact with a recruit between Dec. 1 and Feb. 2. One final note about the new dead period: For its duration, prospects are not permitted to have person-to-person contact with coaches. Coaches are allowed to make one phone call per week to recruits, and the NCAA allows unregulated emailing to take place between recruits and coaches during the dead period. b L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O m