NCAA committee to ban recruit photo shoots during unofficial visits
Recruits making unofficial visits will now have one less item on their agendas: photo shoots.
The NCAA’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee will ban photo shoots for recruits on unofficial visits. In a release Thursday, the committee said schools will not be allowed to arrange photo shoots or take photos of these recruits or those accompanying them on their unofficial visit.
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The committee said it believes the new rule will “eliminate the distraction” of the shoots.
“The rule change will give schools and prospective student-athletes more opportunities to focus on activities that assist the prospective student-athlete in making an informed recruiting decision, such as meeting with coaches and academic officials,” the committee said.
Before becoming final, the Division I Council will review the proposal during an in-person meeting at the NCAA Convention in January. If adopted, the proposal will take effect on March 1, 2024.
The news will be met with celebration from recruiting staffers and creative teams, who have become burdened by the large number of unofficial visits and the high expectations for creative recruiting photo shoots. There are more than 200 days in the 2022-23 FBS recruiting calendar on which programs can host unofficial visits.
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It’s not only a quantity problem. The quality of the photo shoots is more extreme than ever as the use of luxury cars and even live animals has become the norm.
In the last two years at the annual Personnel and Recruiting Symposium in Nashville, football recruiting staffers from across the country voiced their displeasure with the photo shoots. A survey of more than 100 staffers conducted at last year’s event found 78 percent in favor of only allowing photo shoots on official visits. The other 20 percent believed the rule should not change, and two percent voted to completely eliminate photo shoots as part of the recruiting process.
“I just think the time and energy we’re asking of our equipment staff and our creative teams is astronomical and almost insanity,” Ohio State associate AD for player personnel and GM Mark Pantoni said last summer. “I think a lot of us deal with, really, the only thing these kids care about when they visit campus now is the photo shoot. It has taken away, really, the meaning of visiting campus.”
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(Photo: Mitchell Layton / Getty Images)
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