There's been a bit of a buzz about the impact of the new football recruiting rules that have pushed all live athletics evaluations into the scholastic environment. Here's an NCAA Hot Topic that showed up on LSDBi today:
NCAA 2008 Hot Topic -- Football Evaluations and Recruiting Service Off-Campus Events (I)
Date Issued: Apr 29, 2008
Type: Ed. Column
Item Ref: 2
NCAA Division I institutions should note that, in football, pursuant to NCAA Bylaw 13.1.8.9.4, all live athletics evaluations are limited to regularly scheduled high school, preparatory school and two-year college contests and practices and regular scholastic activities involving prospective student-athletes enrolled at the institution at which the regular scholastic activities occur. Therefore, live evaluations may not occur at nonscholastic events, including, but not limited to, camps, combines and all-star games. In order for an institution to evaluate at a practice activity or competition, such activity or competition must be permissible pursuant to the regulations of the appropriate governing body. For example, if the applicable high school athletics association permits high school spring practices and/or the regular scheduling of high school (as opposed to nonscholastic) spring 7 versus 7 competitions pursuant to its regulations, then an institution may evaluate at such activities.
Bylaw 13.1.8.9.4 does not limit off-campus receipt and review of information from recruiting services permitted under Bylaws 13.14.3.1 and 13.14.3.2. Therefore, an institution's coach may attend an off-campus event that is sponsored by a recruiting service and dedicated to the review of video of regularly scheduled regular-season high school and two-year contests and the receipt and review of regularly published recruiting service information, which may include transcripts and printed results from nonscholastic events. The event must to be open to all member institutions at the same fee rate. Finally, the review of video at such an event would be considered an evaluation subject to applicable evaluation limits.
[References: Bylaws 13.1.8.9.4 (scholastic and nonscholastic activities), 13.14.3.1 (published recruiting services), 13.14.3.2 (video services); and an official interpretation (10/27/94, Item No. 4)]