How much football recruiting interest can I receive as a sophomore?

While most college coaches normally focus on older prospects, they also want to have a good feel for the top up and coming prospects.  That is why it is always important to show interest to sophomores and even sometimes freshmen if they are good enough.  While few receive scholarships that early in the process, many wonder how much attention that you can get at that early age.

And while I have talked about it before as far as what mail a college coach can send a sophomore, I decided to talk about it a little more in-depth.  This articles takes a look at what college coaches can do in terms of visits, calls, mail, and contact outside of the campus during the football recruiting process.

What kind of football recruiting materials can I receive from Division I coaches?
Throughout your entire sophomore year, the only items that college coaches are legally able to send you are camp brochures and questionnaires.  As I have mentioned before, if they are sending you hand written letters, then it is a direct violation of NCAA rules.  It is also very important to take the time to fill out the questionnaires so that the college coaches will have your contact information.  In many cases, the colleges will send these to your high school.  Once you fill it out, they will likely send future mail to your house.

Can I receive calls from Division I coaches?
The simple and easy answer is no, you cannot.  There is not time during your sophomore year that a Division I football coach should be calling you.  If you have their number and want to speak with them, you are allowed unlimited calls at your own expense.  If a college coaches really likes a prospects, what the college coach may do is call your high school coach (Which is legal) and have the high school coach tell you to call the college coach.  However, they should not be directly calling you this early in the football recruiting process.

Can a college coach make off campus contact?
The college coach legally should not be making any contact with you off campus.  He should not be seeing you at the school or watching you compete during the spring.  But with the coaches wanting to see juniors and visiting many schools, these things do happen.  But if you are going per NCAA rules, they should not be.

Can I make official visits?
No and there is not much else to say.

Can I make unofficial recruiting visits?
You are allowed as many unofficial visits as you would like to take.  The top sophomores are sometimes invited to Junior Days so that you can learn more about the coaches, the facilities, and their program.  When you do make the visit, they are allowed to speak with you about any number of things.  But it is you paying for the trip that allows this to happen.  There are some rules on the amount of tickets and games that prospects can go to but if you are just coming to visit the school, you can come as much as you want.