Photo ops on unofficial visits likely to be banned
It looks like the popular photo shoots during football unofficial visits will likely come to an end in time for spring visits next year.
The Football Bowl Subdivision oversight committee introduced legislation last Wednesday to ban photo shoots for unofficial visits. The committee is expected to meet late November and is then expected to pass along to the D-I Council on Jan. 10 for a final vote.
The new rule would begin on March 1 should the new rule pass the next two steps.
The photo shoots seem to gain momentum and popularity with schools about six years ago and soon the shoots became bigger and more elaborate while taking up more and more time of the recruiting staffs of schools. The photo sessions would still be allowed for official visits.
CBS Sports Network national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said schools saw the photo shoots as keeping up with the Joneses because every school was doing them.
“Every little thing starts with one or two schools and then everyone picks it up if it’s successful but the problem I can see is too many players coming unofficially when they have their junior days,” Lemming said. “The colleges don’t want to hurt the feeling of the players they might possibly offer down the line, so the numbers become bigger and it means more of a headache for the colleges.”
The expenses, including travel, lodging, and food, for unofficial visits are paid by the recruits while expenses of official visits are paid by the schools. Unofficial visits can range from a few prospects up to 100 or more while official visits can be as few as one or two prospects to upwards to about 20 or more.
Jason Howell, a senior recruiting analyst for TexAgs. com who has covered recruiting for 20 years, agrees with the proposal.
“Completely understand, they would do those things from morning through the night and after every event,” Howell said. “And they got more and more elaborate as schools tried to one up each other. Limiting it to officials is about saving the schools from themselves. It cuts down the workload considerably and the kids can focus on experiences that really matter like talking to coaches and seeing facilities and finding out what the school and the staff is about. Have no problem with it at all.”
The photo shoots usually involve hours of planning and the school’s recruiting and equipment staffs along with a professional photographer.
Sometimes if a photographer is unavailable, that duty falls on the recruiting personnel and could mean editing, organizing and distributing thousands of images.
Maumelle Coach Brian Maupin has coached several prospects who signed with the University of Arkansas while an assistant at Joe T. Robinson, including Razorback redshirt freshman offensive lineman E’Marion Harris.
“Don’t really understand the motive there but also some kids just visiting for the photo op should concentrate more on the visits more and bring more substance to the visits,” Maupin said.
Texas Football recruiting editor Greg Powers sees the proposed ban as a good thing.
“The NCAA’s decision to ban colleges from setting up photo shoots on unofficial visits helps level the playing field for all colleges, emphasizing the importance of genuine interactions over superficial ones, but there are certainly bigger fish to fry as it relates to other problems facing the game surrounding NIL,” said Powers, who has covered recruiting for 19 years. “No matter what side of the [photo] issue you stand on, it will not impact the product fans see on the field every Saturday.”