NCAA Student/Athlete Information Page

NCAA D1 coaches are free to contact recruits in September of the athlete’s junior year. College coaches can send digital communication, make phone calls, send recruiting materials and make verbal offers to recruits. Communication is permitted at any time for D2 college coaches. Beginning in September , student-athletes can begin contacting college coaches and scheduling official and unofficial visits for D1 schools.. 

While D1 official contact with college coaches won’t begin until September of Junior year, there is a lot that prospects should be doing to prepare for that date. Getting on the radar of college coaches and letting them know you are interested is up to the student-athlete. Student-athletes will need to create a strong recruiting profile, capture and edit a quality highlights video and research potential schools prior to the start of the recruiting process. Student-athletes who prepare for the recruiting process will be better set up for success. 

The NCAA established rules that aim to eliminate the trend of early recruiting. USA Lacrosse and the IWLCA/IMLCA proposed this change to the rules with hopes that it would reduce all forms of early lacrosse recruiting. Before September 1of an athlete’s junior year of high school, Division 1 college coaches are only permitted to communicate with a recruit’s club or high school coach, though their conversation is restricted to simple Yes or No answers to the questions, and no verbal offers can be made or suggested.

While communication is not permitted before September of the athlete’s junior year, D1 college coaches are still able to prepare for the recruiting process by researching student-athletes. This research includes viewing recruiting profiles and highlight videos, as well as watching the student-athlete’s performance at tournaments. Starting September of an athlete’s junior year, D1 college coaches will already have a list of athletes they are interested in recruiting, and they can focus on getting to know those athletes. To catch the attention of college coaches prior to the official start of the recruiting process, it’s critical that student-athletes build a recruiting profile, create highlight video and compete in tournaments. 

Division 2, Division 3, NAIA and NJCAA coaches are all allowed to contact athletes earlier in the recruiting process.

College coaches and student-athletes are held to the most restrictive rules at the NCAA D1 level. Rules vary from sport to sport.

• Any time: Student-athletes can receive non-recruiting materials. College coaches can send nonathletic institutional publications, camp brochures and official NCAA educational materials.
• September of junior year: Athletes can begin to receive emails, text messages and direct messages from college coaches. College coaches can also begin sending recruiting materials and verbally offer scholarships.
• September of junior year: Student-athletes can begin scheduling unofficial visits and official visits after this date.
• September of junior year: College coaches can conduct off-campus evaluations. Evaluations must take place at the recruit’s school or home during their junior year. 

The same NCAA D2 recruiting rules apply to all sports. These rules are far more flexible than those in place for NCAA D1 schools.

• Non-recruiting materials: College coaches can send non-recruiting materials to student-athletes at any time. This includes camp NCAA materials, non-athletic recruiting publications, brochures and questionnaires.
• Printed recruiting materials: College coaches can begin sending printed recruiting materials at any time.
• Telephone calls: Coaches are permitted to start calling athletes at any time.
• Off-campus contact: Starting June 15 after an athlete’s sophomore year, off-campus communication is permitted between coaches and athletes and/or their parents.
• Unofficial visits: Student-athletes can make unofficial visits at any time.
• Official visits: Student-athletes may schedule official visits after June 15 of their sophomore year.

NCAA D3 schools have the most lenient recruiting rules of all NCAA divisions. These rules apply to all sports. 

• Recruiting materials: Student-athletes may receive recruiting materials at any time.
• Telephone calls: College coaches may call student-athletes at any time.
• Digital communications: Digital communication between college coaches and student-athletes is permitted at any time.
• Off-campus contact: After an athlete’s sophomore year, athletes and coaches can begin communicating off-campus.
• Official visits: Athletes can schedule official visits starting January 1 of their junior year.
• Unofficial visits: Student-athletes can make as many unofficial visits as they would like.

NAIA recruiting generally starts later because coaches typically recruit student-athletes who did not receive an offer from an NCAA D1 program. Compared to the NCAA, the NAIA has fewer rules around the recruiting process and allows college coaches and athletes to communicate throughout high school without restriction. During the recruiting process, NAIA coaches work to make sure that athletes are a good fit for the program athletically, socially and academically.

College coaches generally follow specific steps through their collegiate athletic recruiting process. Knowing these steps will help potential recruits understand where they are in the recruiting process and what still needs to occur going forward. These steps include: 

1. Gather a list of prospective athletes
2. Send out recruiting emails, prospect camp invites and questionnaires
3. Conduct Evaluations 
4. Extend Verbal offers and scholarships 
5. Sign Athletes

College coaches have different needs for their rosters depending on the level of competition, open positions, academic requirements and more. Some may put more emphasis on certain categories than others, but these are usually what’s being considered:   

• Athletic ability is usually the most important factor, even when college coaches won’t admit it. Their job is dependent on the team securing wins and finding success, so college coaches are absolutely looking for the best athletes that they can sign. But this is not the only factor they consider.
  
• Academics are very important, too. Oftentimes, a college coach will have several recruits to choose from to fill a roster spot and when that happens, they are more likely to pick the one with stronger grades and test scores because they are less likely to experience academic problems in the future and lose their eligibility. At academically rigorous colleges, it can also be difficult for recruits to get admitted.
  
• Character is more important than most athletes and families think. When coaches are out scouting talent, they like to observe how athletes interact with their teammates, opponents, coaching staff and even parents to get an idea of how the athlete carries themselves.
  
• Location can also play a role in recruiting. Successful programs with big budgets may recruit all over the country and even internationally, but smaller programs may only have the resources to recruit from certain regions where they have relationships with high school coaches and can also cut down on travel expenses. In this case, recruits from a certain region can have a leg up in recruiting. 

Dead Periods: During this period, coaches are prohibited from any in-person contact with student-athletes and/or their parents. Athletes and coaches are still permitted to communicate digitally via phone, email, social media, etc. 

• August 1-14, 2025, November 25-30, 2025, December 22-26, 2025, December 31 – January 2, 2026 (recruiting shutdown)
• August 28 – Sep. 3, 2025
• November 10-13, 2025
• May 22-24, 2026
• July 2-6, 2026

Recruiting shutdown is a period where no form of recruiting is permitted.

Contact Period: College coaches are unable to contact student-athletes, outside of providing camp and clinic information, until September 1 of their junior year. After this date, coaches and athletes are free to communicate through emails, texts, calls and direct messages. This is also when coaches can begin to extend verbal offers to recruits. Dead periods and quiet periods are the only communication restrictions that college coaches must follow after September 1 of the athlete’s junior year.

• September 4 – November 30, 2025 (excepted noted dates)
• December 1 – 30, 2025
• January 3 – May 21, 2026
• May 25 – June 11, 2026

Division 2

Under the NCAA Divisions 2 lacrosse recruiting calendar, student-athletes can communicate freely with coaches, aside from during one dead period:

• November 10 (7 a.m.) – 12 (7 a.m.), 2025 (during the 48 hours prior to 7 a.m. on the initial date for the signing of an NCAA financial aid agreement).

The NCAA created the quiet period to give student-athletes a break from the rigorous recruiting process, while still allowing college coaches and athletes to communicate through NCAA-approved methods (such as, emails, texts, calls and direct messaging). During this time, D1 and D2 college coaches are prohibited from talking to prospective student-athletes in-person, on-campus and cannot visit student-athletes at their high schools, homes or during games.

 To start out, coaches need to gather a large group of recruits. They will identify recruits who meet basic criteria like athletic stats, position, grad year, academics, location and more. To do so, college coaches will use the following tools and methods: 

• Third-party recruiting sites like IWLCARecruits.com 
• Recommendations from high school or club coaches
• Emails and messages from recruits
• Prospect Camps and Showcases where they can see many potential recruits in one place

What this means for you:

As a recruit, you need to look at the college recruiting process like a funnel, too.  

• Start out with a list of programs that would be a good athletic, academic, financial and social fit for you, and then pare that list down based on your preferences and the interest of college coaches.
• Consider attending camps and showcases held by coaches at schools you’re interested in.
• Create IWLCA Profile (315 Athletes receive a Free Pro Account) so college coaches can easily find your information online and increase your likelihood of getting a camp invite.
• Get your name in front of college coaches as much as possible through emails and social media highlights and updates of your athletic success.   

The next step for most coaches is to begin sending out messages to a large group of athletes to get an idea of how many might be interested in their program. Athletes who pass the initial evaluation will likely receive one or more of the following: 

• Requests to complete a recruiting questionnaire
• Invitations to a camp
• General interest letters from the school

Recruiting questionnaires

These are forms with fields for basic information that coaches want to see about any potential recruit and are very common in college sports recruitment.

After coaches send these communications, they will see who responds—and consider how genuinely interested each athlete sounds—and narrow their list of prospects down to between 500–3,000 athletes, depending on the size of the program. 

What this means for you:

Recruiting questionnaires, camp invites and general interest letters from a school may seem impersonal and not worthy of a follow-up. However, they do serve an important purpose.

Respond to each coach with a personalized message, thanking them for the letter and letting them know you are interested in their program. Coaches are very good at spotting generic messages and mass emails.

At this stage in the college recruiting process, coaches really need to get to know recruits in order to create a ranked list of top prospects. This often means they will get in touch with athletes and start calling their high school and club coaches for an evaluation or recommendation. 

They may also travel to large tournaments or showcases where many of their recruits will be competing, or they will send athletes personalized invites to their own camps. Official and unofficial visits can also happen at this time, as coaches aim to create a solid list of top recruits. 

What this means for you:

Don’t wait for college coaches to start contacting you! Instead, take the initiative to show them why you deserve to make it to the next round of the college recruiting process.  

• Send them updated athletic and academic stats and highlight videos with your best and most recent footage.  
• Ask your high school and club coach to reach out to college coaches on your behalf.  
• Let coaches know you’re coming to their school for an unofficial visit and that you’d like to arrange a time to meet with them while you’re there.

The NCAA Eligibility Center (formerly known as the NCAA Clearinghouse) is an organization that helps determine the eligibility of student-athletes to participate in college-level sports in the United States.

The NCAA Eligibility Center ensures you meet academic and amateurism requirements by reviewing your transcripts and amateurism questionnaire, with rare cases requiring additional information.

An NCAA ID number is a unique identification number assigned to student-athletes by the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) to track their eligibility and participation in collegiate sports.

To get an NCAA ID number go to the NCAA Eligibility Center website, create either a Certification Account or Profile Page account, and complete the initial registration process to get your NCAA ID number.

 You are not officially done with the NCAA Eligibility Center process until you are done with high school and officially declared eligible at your D1 or D2 institution. There are three phases to the NCAA Eligibility Center process you will need to check in to make sure you are on track:

1. Creating a Certification Account – This should happen your freshman or sophomore year of high school.
2. Having up-to-date transcripts after your junior year – The NCAA requires prospective D1 athletes to complete 10 core courses before the start of your final semester of high school. 7 of these courses need to be in English, math and natural or physical science. Additionally, your core course GPA will be “locked in” at this time – you won’t be allowed to retake these classes to improve your grades.
3. Sending in final transcripts and requesting final amateurism certification – After you have completed high school, you will send your final transcripts and request your final amateurism certification.