2026-27 NCAA Football Recruiting Rules and Calendar

The NCAA football recruiting rules and calendar outline when and how college coaches can contact athletes, mainly to prevent elite players from being overwhelmed too early. But the timeline can be misleading. Recruiting often starts well before official contact is allowed.

One of the first questions we hear athletes ask is: “When can coaches contact me?”

• Division 1 coaches can begin reaching out via text, email, and social media on June 15 after sophomore year.
• Division 2 coaches can send electronic communications at any time, but all forms of contact are allowed after sophomore year.
• Division 3 and NAIA coaches have no formal restrictions, though most begin connecting around junior year, especially if athletes show interest first.

Continue reading for a full breakdown of football recruiting dates, periods, and what each phase means for you.

How to use the NCAA football recruiting rules and calendar

The NCAA football recruiting rules and calendar help families stay on track throughout the recruiting journey. For example, by June 15 of a student-athlete’s junior year, they’re eligible to receive emails, texts, and DMs from D1, D2, D3, and NAIA coaches. If no coaches have reached out by then, it’s a clear sign to take action and boost visibility.

The calendar also helps athletes and coaches plan effectively. For instance, if a senior is in a contact period, it’s the perfect time to schedule campus visits and maximize direct communication with coaches.

Use the calendar as your roadmap—timing your efforts around the recruiting windows can make all the difference.

NCAA Division 1 football recruiting rules

D1 football coaches can send athletes camp brochures and non-athletic institutional publications freshman and sophomore year.

Junior Year:

• June 15 before junior year: Athletes can receive any form of private, electronic communication. This includes emails, recruiting materials, texts and direct messages on social media.
• April 1 through the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June: A college may pay for a prospective student-athlete and two family members to visit campus. After this date, a college may offer an expense-paid visit after Sept. 1 of senior year.

Senior Year:

• July 1 before senior year: Coaches can contact athletes off-campus, but only during the contact periods. Coaches are only allowed six off-campus contacts with each student-athlete.
• First day of classes: Athletes can take unlimited official visits. Only one per school.
• September 1: Coaches can call athletes once a week after this time, and they can call recruits unlimited times during the contact period.

Evaluation days: Coaches can evaluate each recruit three times. They can take one evaluation per recruit in the fall, and then two evaluations from April 15 to May 31.

NCAA Division 2 football recruiting rules

The NCAA football recruiting rules for Division 2 are the same across all sports. For football, the rules are slightly more relaxed than those for Division 1:

• Any time: Athletes can receive brochures for camps, recruiting questionnaires, NCAA materials and non-athletic recruiting publications. Coaches can also communicate with recruits via phone calls and electronically (via private texts, social media DMs, instant messages, etc.).
• June 15 after sophomore year: Athletes can begin taking official visits. Coaches can conduct in-person, off-campus recruiting contact. Finally, after this date, coaches can approach a recruit’s coach at a competition (game, camp, etc.) throughout the contact periods.
• Evaluations: Coaches are not restricted in how many times they can evaluate a student-athlete at the D2 level. Coaches just have to make sure that they don’t communicate with the recruits until their practice/competition has ended and they’ve been released by their coach or the proper authority.

NCAA Division 3 and NAIA football recruiting rules

D3 and NAIA colleges are generally left to create their own recruiting rules and schedules. They don’t have limits on when coaches can contact recruits. The only standardized rule for D3 schools is that coaches are not allowed to meet with recruits or their families off-campus until the athlete has completed their sophomore year of high school.

2026-2027 NCAA Division 1 and Division 2 football recruiting calendar

Throughout the school year, specific types of contact with college coaches are permitted during certain times at the D1 and D2 level. Layer the 2026-27 NCAA recruiting calendar on top of the recruiting rules to determine what type of contact to expect based on your age and the time of year.

Dead period: During the dead period, coaches may not have any in-person contact with recruits and/or their parents. They are not allowed to talk to recruits at their college campus, the athlete’s school, an athletic camp or even the grocery store.

Quiet period: The quiet period is a time you can talk to college coaches in-person on their college campus. However, the coach is not allowed to watch athletes compete in-person, visit their school, talk to them at their home—or talk to them anywhere outside of the college campus.

Evaluation period: This is a specific time of year when college coaches are allowed to watch an athlete compete in person or visit their school. However, coaches are not allowed to communicate with that athlete (or their parents) off the college campus. 

Contact period: The NCAA contact period is exactly what it sounds like—all communication between athletes and coaches is fair game. In other words, the communication floodgates are open, so take advantage of this opportunity to get unlimited access to coaches.

NCAA Division I football Bowl Subdivision recruiting calendar (fall 2026)

• August 1–31, 2026: Dead period (Except for forty-eight hours before a home contest that occurs in August or on Sept. 1 or 2 through 48 hours after the conclusion of the contest, which is a quiet period)
• September 1 – November 28, 2026: Evaluation period (Thirty-three (42 for U.S. service academies) evaluation days during the fall evaluation period)
• November 30 – December 31, 2026: Dead period

View the full 2026-27 D1 Football Bowl Subdivision Recruiting Calendar here.

NCAA Division I football Championship Subdivision recruiting calendar (fall)

• August 1–31, 2026: Dead period
• September 1 – November 28, 2026: Evaluation Period
  • Thirty-three (42 for U.S. service academies) evaluation days during the fall evaluation period.
• November 30 – December 3, 2026: Dead period
• December 4–17, 2026: Contact Period
• December 18–20, 2026: Quiet period
• December 20–31, 2026: Dead period

View the full 2026-27 D1 Football Championship Subdivision Recruiting Calendar here.

NCAA Division 2 football recruiting calendar

• November 30 (7 am) – December 2 (7am), 2026 for all two-year college prospective student athletes enrolling mid year: Signing Date Dead period
• December 22, 2026 – January 1, 2027: Dead Period
• February 1 (7 am) – 3 (7am), 2027: Signing Date Dead Period
• February 15–17, 2027: Dead Period
• May 29–31, 2027: Dead Period

View the 2026-27 DII Sports Recruiting Calendar here.

View the 2026-27 DII Recruiting Guide here.

Read more:

• Read about the NCAA’s name, image, likeness rules
• When is college football signing day?