May evaluation becoming a crucial time

There are many crucial times during the lengthy college football recruiting process. After the official and in-home visits, the May Evaluation period -- which lasts from April 15 to May 31 -- is perhaps the next most important time. During these six weeks, each college is allowed four weeks to evaluate high school football prospects. Not every state in America has spring football; in fact, fewer than half do.

The evaluation period is defined by the NCAA as four weeks (excluding Memorial Day and Sundays) selected at the discretion of the member institution and designated in writing in the office of athletics. An authorized off-campus recruiter may use one evaluation to assess a prospect's athletic ability and one to assess the prospect's academic qualifications during this period. Each school may have seven of its coaches on the road to recruit. Also, from May 1 through the end of the month, schools are allowed one phone call to each prospective high school recruit.

There are several constants you'll see during this time and throughout the recruiting process. First of all, each coach at a school has a territory that they are in charge of. It likely will be a portion of that school's home state and some out-of-state areas. Second, most schools probably will go to every school in their home state. This is part of the process and part good will for future recruiting efforts, as not every school will have a college prospect.

The key for this evaluation period is that it sets the tempo or the stage for who ultimately gets recruited by schools.

"May is a key month for us,” Iowa tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Eric Johnson said. "This is when we shore up our list. We will start off with 2,000 kids and after the May Evaluation Period we will have it narrowed down to 150 guys -- the guys we know we want to recruit. It's also a great time for us to develop relationships with high school coaches and go see kids play in practice and spring games. It's a very significant time for us."

For the college football programs, it gives them an opportunity to be seen, as well as build relationships. After all, the key to recruiting is winning over kids, families and coaches. That's the most critical factor to achieving success in the all-important recruiting wars. For the kids, it gives them a chance to shine in person, whether at practice, a spring game, jamboree or even on game film. It may be the first time they have been seen (live or on tape) by college recruiters. The kids want to make their case, so they make the next cut.

"It gives us a great opportunity to see all the kids in the state of South Carolina," South Carolina recruiting coordinator Dave Roberts said. "We don't have a big state, but it's very important for us to see all the schools, coaches and all the kids. That's crucial. But it helps us more out of state where we don't have those same built in relationships. Those kids we have to work a little harder to get."

Another important factor is checking on the prospect's academic status and getting more detailed information on these kids.

"May is a great time to mingle with all high school coaches," Georgia Tech recruiting coordinator Dave Wilson said. "We want to find out what kind of prospect this kid is. Does he work hard? Does he have the academics? Does he do the right things? We want to evaluate the strength of the program and where these kids are coming from because if we can do that we can get a good indication about the prospects themselves."

This is an important time for both the college recruiters and the individual prospects. After the May evaluation period is over, the college coaches go home and meet with the rest of their staffs to go over who and what they saw during their time on the road. There are very extensive and detailed recruiting meetings. In these meetings, they will condense their lengthy recruiting lists to a manageable number.

From there, the recruiting wars lie ahead.

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