The 444-Day Dead Period Ends June 1, Coaches And Players Are Ready

On Tuesday, the NCAA will emerge from a 444-day recruiting dead period that was first put in place in March 2020 due to rising concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like most programs, Nebraska has plans for weekends full of official visitors and perhaps runs of players making their college decisions.

The Journal Star reports the Huskers are expected to host somewhere between 20 to 25 official visitors over the month of June.

“June, that’s going to be a marathon now,” running backs coach and recruiting coordinator Ryan Held said this spring, per the Journal Star. “I told my wife, ‘I’ll see you in a month.’ There’s just no way. It’s travel, it’s (working) 18-hour days because we have to make up for so much lost time of getting kids on official visits, the camps, traveling to other camps, which is awesome because we’re excited to actually get to go out and see kids in person or have kids on our campus.”

One of the biggest wrinkles this summer is the NCAA’s decision to allow prospective athletes to work out for up to an hour in front of coaching staffs on campus. Schools will use the workouts for different reasons, but the article states many will use it to evaluate whether to offer a player a scholarship. It might help clear up a pecking order for potential transfers. Nebraska, of course, is always looking to sort out its list of potential walk-ons, as well.

Nebraska has multiple official visitors already confirmed for each of the four weekends of June. The program hosted 11 official visitors in the spring and summer of 2019, so it is planning to approximately double that number this year.

Any 2022 player who wants to use all five visits next month has to make at least one midweek trip, since the quiet period includes only four weekends, the article states. Nebraska will have at least a couple of those later in the month: tight end Gabe Burkle and offensive lineman Jake Maikkula.

First, the Huskers are kicking things off by having at least eight confirmed official visitors next weekend. The Journal Star reports quarterback Richard Torres and running back Justin Williams are among the group.

"Me, personally, I’ve been to one college, but I’ve never been far away to see what any other schools look like," Williams, rated a four-star prospect by Rivals and a three-star by 247Sports, told the Journal Star earlier this spring. "It’s really exciting because I finally get to see what colleges and facilities look like in person instead of just in photos and videos and stuff."

The Journal Star reports the group of visitors pairs with the first of two Friday Night Lights camps Nebraska is hosting on June 4 and June 18. The second of those two weekends will be a sizable one on campus because the Huskers have their Adidas “Pipeline” linemen camp on June 19 and are also hosting a recruiting barbecue like they did in June 2019.

New FanDuel Sportsbook users can make their first bet risk-free up to $1,000. If the bet loses, the FanDuel Sportsbook will refund you in site credit. New users can lock in this offer NOW by clicking this link.