Term-in-ology. College athletics is not immune to industry acronyms or opaque concepts that can throw off the scent. With that in mind, Term-in-ology seeks each week to educate our readers on key NCAA definitions, terms of art, and policies and procedures encapsulating modern-day college athletics. If you are connected in any way to higher education, the business of education, or simply a college sports fan---this weekly morsel can help you decode college sports.
Prospects
The term prospect, or prospective student-athlete in full, is mentioned in a wide variety of contexts as it pertains to college athletics and, specifically, the Division I recruiting environment. This term is central to everything in Division I Bylaw 13, which is the part of NCAA manual that governs recruiting: how soon, how often, and what format (e.g., call, text, evaluate from sidelines, contact in-person, etc) a coach may assess and/or interact with a prospect.
The NCAA defines a prospect as “…a student who has started classes for the ninth grade. In addition, a student who has not started classes for the ninth grade becomes a prospect if the institution provides such an individual (or the individual's family members or friends) any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide to prospective students generally.”
An individual remains a prospect until one of the following occurs (whichever is earliest):
The individual officially registers and enrolls in a minimum full-time program of studies and attends classes in any term of a four-year collegiate institution's regular academic year (excluding summer);
The individual participates in a regular squad practice or competition at a four-year collegiate institution that occurs before the beginning of any term;
The individual participates in required summer athletic activities before his or her initial full-time enrollment at the certifying institution;
The individual officially registers, enrolls and attends classes during the certifying institution's summer term prior to his or her initial full-time enrollment at the certifying institution; or
The individual reports to an institutional orientation session that is open to all incoming students within 14 calendar days prior to the opening day of classes of a regular academic year term.
One key phrase within the above definition is that an individual who is younger than ninth grade is not considered a prospect unless an institution provides the individual any financial assistance or other benefits that the institution does not provide prospective students generally.
For example, a Division I women’s lacrosse head coach providing a $100 gift card to a standout lacrosse player who is only in seventh grade would trigger that seventh grader’s status as a prospect under NCAA rules -- unless, for some reason, the lacrosse coach’s institution was handing out $100 gift cards to all seventh graders in the area, in which case the prospect status would not be triggered.
The vast majority of NCAA recruiting rules are intended to apply to “prospects” who, by definition, are high school-aged students. But recruiting doesn’t fit into a neat box when it comes to grade or age level. As it turns out, because a few sports have delved into the junior high ranks to actively recruit future college athletes, certain recruiting rules move the prospect dividing-line earlier than the start of ninth grade.
For example, camps and clinics are considered permissible tryout exceptions (where college coaches can direct and instruct athletic activities of prospects) under NCAA recruiting rules if certain guardrails are maintained. One longstanding NCAA camp rule, for examples,requires all camp registrants pay the same camp registration fee, thereby preventing special discounts for highly desirable recruits.
By NCAA definition, an institution's sports camp or instructional clinic shall be any camp or clinic that is owned or operated by a member institution or an employee of the member institution's athletics department, either on or off its campus, and in which prospects participate.
Those last few words are key. Camps and clinics as defined by NCAA rules can only occur when prospects participate. But “early recruiting” in certain sports has proliferated, and makeshift camps revolving around one or two key seventh or eighth graders could be pulled together with a small group of their peers outside the scope of the traditional camp/clinic tryout exception.
For two sports, the prospect's grade level minimum for camps under NCAA rules was moved earlier with this in mind. For purposes of camps and clinics in men’s basketball and softball, a prospect is any individual who has started classes for the seventh grade. This threshold was moved up with the aim of reducing third party influence over a highly-rated seventh or eighth grader in exchange for financial considerations beyond the permissible scope of NCAA camp and clinic rules historically applicable to camps involving 9th graders and up.
For these sports, lowering the grade threshold helps ensure camps and clinics with junior high students maintain an emphasis on instructional and educational value, fit within camp and clinic guardrails and don’t become a charade to have access to one or two coveted, yet very young, recruits. There is more, for another day, to examine regarding the distinction between recruited and non-recruited prospects and the recent attempts to curb “early recruiting” across multiple sports. For now, it’s a helpful to know who constitutes a prospect in expanding one's foundation in NCAA terms of art.
Athletics Veritas is presented for information purposes only and should not be considered advice or counsel on NCAA compliance matters. For guidance on NCAA rules and processes, always consult your university’s athletics compliance office, conference office, and/or the NCAA.
