Getty Image / G Fiume
There are plenty of issues facing college athletics right now. Things like the unionization of athletes, rules surrounding Name, Image, and Likeness rights, exploding coaching salaries, and conference realignment need some leadership. Instead, the NCAA has decided to crackdown on photoshoots on unofficial visits, according to legislation introduced and is expected to pass.
The news was announced Wednesday afternoon.
The NCAA is also tackling the important stuff: Getting rid of photoshoots for recruits!! pic.twitter.com/AxFyR2aOxn
— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) October 4, 2023
So, what exactly are they talking about here, you may ask. It’s pretty commonplace in Division I recruiting now for recruits to have photoshoots on their unofficial visits or official visits in uniform with cool lighting and backgrounds. Here are some examples.
https://www.instagram.com/nico_iamaleava8/?hl=en&img_index=3
https://www.instagram.com/dantemoore/?hl=en&img_index=5
These are pretty resource-intensive for schools. Obviously, they want to do it when a five-star quarterback like those two come to town. But, every recruit, even ones that are never going to get a committable scholarship offer to play at the school want the cool photoshoot with the jersey on in front of cool props or backgrounds like the ones above.
It’s not just football, either. Recruits of all sports want these now, though most of the time that’s happening on their official visit.
The new rule would ban these types of photoshoots on NCAA unofficial visits for football. My guess is, this has something to do with coaches of smaller schools with less resources complaining about all the cool stuff Ohio State or Georgia can do compared to them. As futile as it is the NCAA wants to at least pretend that recruiting is an even playing field.
Still, this is bad optics for the NCAA. The public would much rather see them tackle issues that matter. But, this is all we get.