Getty Image / Mitchell Layton
If there’s any one thing we know for sure about the NCAA, it’s that they love unnecessary rules.
One of those kept Merrimack out of the NCAA Tournament this year and gave Fairleigh Dickinson the chance to pull a massive upset against Purdue.
Jim Harbaugh got in trouble this year for having bought hamburgers for a couple of recruits.
They used to not even allow alcohol sales at “championship competitions”.
Today they decided to get rid of one rule that maybe they should have kept.
According to 247 Sports’ Dean Straka, the NCAA is removing the limit on official visits for prospective athletes, which was previously set at 5 for football players.
🚨NCAA removes limit on official visits for prospective athletes.
The new rules will be effective July 1. Football players previously were given five official visits total.
Story by @DWStraka49– https://t.co/kl3SvwAFgM pic.twitter.com/BoQYVpvNSq
— 247Sports (@247Sports) April 14, 2023
The chair of the NCAA’s Division I Council, Lynda Tealer, said, “For young people considering where to go to college, visits to campus — both official and unofficial — are an integral part of the decision-making process. This was an opportunity to modernize NCAA rules in a way that provides greater and more meaningful opportunities for prospects going through the recruitment process.”
This feels like it is going to create chaos.
With no limit on the number of visits players can take, we could see some top recruits taking a ridiculous number of them.
At that point, there’s no reason not to take multiple visits to some schools while making a decision.
The one positive to this is that it could at least give some smaller schools more of a chance to land higher-rated recruits.
If recruits don’t have to limit their visits, then they can start visiting more schools that they otherwise wouldn’t have even given a chance. That would at least give smaller schools a chance to try and sway them to their programs.
Usually it’s a good thing when the NCAA decides to give up some of there control, but this might be one time when they should have kept things in check.