College football recruiting runs on a thermostat with four settings: contact, evaluation, quiet, and dead. The NCAA calendar cycles programs through them all year, dictating exactly where a coach’s body is allowed to be – because that’s genuinely all the periods govern. Phones never stop.
The names confuse everyone. “Dead period” sounds like recruiting stops; in reality coaches text recruits at breakfast and call them at night straight through it – they just can’t see them in person. “Quiet period” sounds restrictive; it actually means campuses are open. Learn the four definitions and the whole recruiting calendar snaps into focus.
The chart below decodes each period, what survives all of them, and the logic behind the throttling.
The Sliding Scale of Access
Think of the four periods as descending permission levels. Contact periods allow everything – living rooms, high school gyms, campus weekends. Evaluation periods let coaches watch (games, practices) but not approach. Quiet periods invert it: recruits can travel to campus, coaches can’t travel to recruits – official and unofficial visits still happen, but only on the school’s turf. Dead periods shut down in-person contact entirely, both directions.
What Survives Every Period
Calls, texts, DMs and mail flow year-round once a recruit reaches the age-and-date thresholds for communication. This is the misunderstood core of the system: dead periods pause bodies, not relationships. Commitments regularly happen mid-dead-period over the phone – the calendar just guarantees no one’s sitting in the recruit’s kitchen when it does.
The December Shutdown
The calendar’s most consequential recent shift: a dead period now blankets December, deliberately overlapping the transfer portal window. Staffs manage portal chaos and signing-day logistics from their own buildings rather than airports – one of several ways the calendar quietly reshapes roster-building strategy each cycle. Exact dates move annually, so programs (and recruits) live by the current NCAA calendar, not last year’s.
Quick Answers
What is a recruiting dead period?
A window when no in-person recruiting contact is allowed anywhere – on or off campus – though calls, texts and mail continue.
What’s the difference between a quiet period and a dead period?
Quiet periods allow in-person contact on the school’s campus only; dead periods allow none at all.
Can coaches text recruits during a dead period?
Yes – electronic and phone communication runs through every period. Only face-to-face contact is governed by the calendar.
The Bottom Line
Contact = everything legal. Evaluation = watch, don’t approach. Quiet = campus only. Dead = no in-person contact anywhere – but the phones never stop. Four settings, one calendar, and the dates reset every cycle.