College coaches are breathing a collective sigh of relief while the recruiting calendar is in a dead period from June 24 to July 24. Coaches are still able to talk to recruits during a dead period, but there is no in-person contact, no campus visits or evaluations at schools being done.
After an eventful spring, the coaches are ready for a break. Texas offensive line coach Herb Hand eloquently spoke for all coaches when he mimicked a recruit, tweeting that he would be taking a three-week vacation to re-energize.
Respect my decision.#Blessed pic.twitter.com/GgLQkAIXVY
— Herb Hand (@CoachHand) June 23, 2019
The coaches are excited for the break, because with the new calendar and the early signing period and prospects taking spring official visits mixed in with spring evaluations, there isn't much time to breathe.
New calendar impact
We are seeing roughly 70% of FBS prospects committing in the early signing period in December, and that has given coaches the opportunity to get a head start on the next class in January.
Many coaches are treating January as an evaluation period to get a faster start on the next cycle, which is a good thing, but it has also helped accelerate the process. With that jump start, recruits are now able to take official visits in the spring of their junior academic year and many have started to take advantage of those opportunities.