Coaches adapt to recruiting without camps

The mere mention of summer camp conjures up images of soccer and basketball games, a ride on a sailboat or some swimming lessons.

However, for college football recruiters, the summer camp season takes on a much different meaning.

Sacred Heart University football coach Mark Nofri estimates that 70-80 percent of the players signed by the Pioneers in a normal recruiting class have been seen by somebody on his staff at a camp. Central Connecticut State’s Ryan McCarthy put the number in the 50-60 percent range while any conversation about the newest batch of recruits with UConn’s Randy Edsall or Yale’s Tony Reno invariably includes a story on how they saw the student-athlete at a camp.

Well, in the social-distancing world that we all live in, the camps hosted by college coaches have taken a one-year hiatus which certainly is creating some obstacles for college coaches to overcome as they look to put together the next recruiting class.

“Recruiting is the lifeblood of a program, I think the more opportunities we get to get around kids, see them face to face and observe them in person I think the better evaluation you are going to make,” McCarthy said. “We are not going to have that but with all that is going on with the COVID virus, we are going to have to trust the people we talk to and trust the people that we know, who they recommend and are more apt to make decisions. It is not going to be easy but if you know who you are dealing with and you feel good about them, you feel good about them then

Christian Abraham / Hearst Connecticut Media Sacred Heart coach Mark Nofri estimates that 70-80 percent of recruits the Pioneers typically sign are seen during summer prospect camps.