Ohio State football: Could recruiting dead period be lifted?

With COVID vaccines being more readily available in states across the country. Could the NCAA consider lifting the recruiting dead period? It would certainly help the Ohio State football program.

The Ohio State football program was not happy at all when the recruiting dead period got extended until the beginning of June. Not only does it hurt them, but it hurts most programs around the country. It also hurts high school prospects as well.

Prospects like J.T. Tuimoloau don’t get to visit schools that they want to see before making a decision that alters their life. Despite the fact that the dead period hurts Ohio State’s chances of grabbing Tuimoloau, this is happening for all high schoolers across the country.

The reason why the dead period was extended is because of the pandemic that is still going on. The pandemic is going away, although it is weakening. Vaccine rollouts are helping the effort across the country to weaken and eradicate the COVID-19 virus.

Even with vaccines, the NCAA knows that not every state is at the same infection rate. Some states are safer than others and states all have different rules when it comes to combatting the virus. In their mind, it makes sense to have a level playing field everywhere.

Would the NCAA consider lifting the recruiting dead period before the May 31st deadline it is now set at? I would say no. The NCAA has a long history of not doing the obviously smart thing. I wouldn’t expect them to change starting now in a pandemic.

In a way, I can’t blame them. It’s really hard to allow students to take on the risk of getting infected. Unless there would be some liability taken away from the NCAA and the school being visited, it’s hard to do this.

If anything were to happen regarding this, we certainly would keep you updated.