One of the top high school running backs in the country, Audric Estime has a litany of offers from major college football programs.
Now is when the St. Joseph Regional star should be preparing to travel to some of those campuses, meet with coaches in person and gather more information before making one of the biggest decisions of his life.
But that process has come to an indefinite halt because of the coronavirus outbreak.
"Since I'm not allowed on campus it does affect my decision process, because I won't be able to get to see the environment and the town at the school I'm looking closely at," said Estime, a four-star prospect with offers from Rutgers, Arizona State and West Virginia among others.
For Estime and many other high school football players, spring is a vital time for college recruiting.
For high school juniors who want to decide where they'll be attending college before their senior year begins, the spring evaluation period is crucial.
Which makes this particular spring complicated.
Big events such as spring games and junior days, significant parts of the recruiting process, have been canceled amid the coronavirus outbreak.
The NCAA instituted a dead period (no-in person contact) through April 15, and there's a strong chance this dead period is extended, which would cancel or at least postpone much, if not all, of the evaluation period from April 15 to May 31.
It means recruits wouldn't be able to visit any campuses, and coaches can't travel to meet with recruits at a time when they'd normally conduct academic and athletic evaluations.
It's thrown a wrench into the recruiting process for programs and athletes across the nation.
Coaches can still contact recruits virtually, but not in person.
Estime, who ran for 1,190 yards and 15 touchdowns his junior season, said he's been in contact with coaches through FaceTime and text.
It's affected certain prospects differently.
Some already knew where they were going to go and are simply making their decisions sooner.
Rutgers already has 10 commitments for its 2021 recruiting class, including seven pledges from New Jersey prospects.
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"You look at a place like Rutgers, who did a great job of getting kids on campus in January and then they had, I think, three separate days in March for kids during that first week," said Brian Dohn, a national recruiting analyst for 247sports.com. "Those kids are now comfortable with Rutgers."
But for recruits who still need to make up their mind or have been under-recruited, there's so much uncertainty about what's to come and any chances the NCAA could make to the recruiting calendar.
"Are there still going to be camps in June? Is the NCAA going to open up July as now a time when you can visit campuses? Can you do officials then? Can you visit in August now like you used to be able to do, but they previously made it a dead period? There’s so much uncertainty," Dohn said.
"But I think for kids that are not far along in the process, it will likely delay their decisions. A lot of them wanted to decide end of June."
'It would be a big step back'
Junior running back Ali Lee Jr., a 2019 USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey first-team All-State selection and the career rushing leader at Woodbridge High School, received scholarship offers last season from UMass and Central Michigan.
Lee, who had been in contact with Rutgers and Penn State, and hoped to generate interest from other Power 5 conference schools, says he believes any cancellation of the spring evaluation period will adversely impact his recruitment.
“It would be a big step back,” says Lee, who broke seven single-season and career school rushing records while helping Woodbridge reach a sectional final for the first time in 22 seasons.
“Because of (COVID-19) we can’t go to any schools, and we can’t get in front of anybody, and the recruiting is hurting.”
Woodbridge coach Joe LaSala says he believes Lee, who planned on running outdoor track-and-field, may also be hurt through any cancellation of the spring sports season, and that other high school juniors may be impacted by the cancellation of college board testing.
“Certain guys are looking for SAT scores,” LaSala said, “and if you didn’t take the SAT in March, there’s none in April, and May has been canceled already. We’re all hoping that June we are back in school and can take a June test, but you still don’t get the score until July. If that’s the case, then a lot of those underclassmen, juniors in general, aren’t going to get the SAT.”
Lee believes he has the ability to clock a 10.8- or 10.7-second time in the 100 meters, which would have impressed college coaches and created more scholarship opportunities.
“I was looking forward to track,” he said.. “A lot of the coaches wanted my official times.”
Lee rushed for 1,873 yards, amassed 2,348 all-purpose yards, scored 26 touchdowns and intercepted five passes last season.
“We were excited for the spring because I knew he could go out there and run some really good track times,” said LaSala, noting that, more importantly, he wanted Lee to have an opportunity to showcase his football skills in front of college coaches during the evaluation period. “Now everything has just been put on hold.”
Digital recruiting?
Lenape two-way star Xavier Coleman is one of the most sought-after recruits in South Jersey, accumulating 14 offers, including Rutgers, Pitt, Boston College, West Virginia and Washington State.
“It’s been crazy, there’s just a lot of uncertainty about a lot of things, including college recruitment,” Coleman says. “It’s been a blessing to me to receive this love from these schools. It means so much. I know not everybody gets opportunities like this and I’m just thankful.”
But missing this evaluation period for college “is huge,” says Lenape coach Joe Wojceichowski.
A good example is Lenape linebacker Clyde Washington, who will be attending Purdue in the fall.
“If not for this recruiting period, (Washington) probably wouldn’t be going to Purdue,” Wojceichowski said. “Getting these kids in front of the college coaches, beginning to establish these relationships, there’s no substitute for that.
“Are there going to be some guys that get overlooked because of all of this? Yeah, most likely there will be.”
Coleman caught plenty of attention from colleges this fall when he earned an All-South Jersey selection as a two-way playmaker. He scored 24 touchdowns with a combined 1,095 yards of offense, while playing defense at cornerback.
Boston College made an offer midway through the season, beginning a process that Coleman hopes to continue to carry steam through summer and fall.
“If schools want to get in contact with me, they will,” Coleman said. “I think with social media, Twitter, that’s a lot easier now. I’m just going to see how things work out.”
Williamstown defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku agrees technology will play a much bigger role now in the recruiting process.
“This whole thing is going to force colleges to recruit more digitally now,” Ezeriuaku said. “All the campuses are closed, so there aren’t going to be any official visits to make until they reopen. FaceTime or social media is going to be a way that coaches and players are going to stay connected.”
The imposing 6-foot-3, 210-pound defensive end/outside linebacker has already collected 10 offers from Rhode Island, Princeton, Bucknell, Columbia, Elon, Fordham, Yale, Old Dominion, Richmond and Holy Cross. It’s a number that is likely to continue to rise.
Maybe not a bad thing?
Not everyone believes this will significantly set back recruiting.
Bergen Catholic may have more than 30 scholarship players in the program, and coach Vito Campanile sees the slowing of the recruiting process due to coronavirus only having a minor impact, if at all.
“I don’t know if I’m in the majority when I say this, but I think it’s a little better, because I think the recruiting process has gotten too fast in my opinion,” Campanile said. “And I think kids should vet out the process, and coaches should do their due diligence. I don’t know that this is going to be an all-bad thing from a football standpoint.”
Bergen Catholic players and coaches are together at least four days a week for 44 weeks a year, Campanile estimates. Campanile, whose most coveted recruit is All-State junior defensive lineman Tywone Malone, says his Crusaders “are still talking” to coaches.
“I think it will be a little more hectic for a guy like myself and the coaching staff in-season, because a lot of the stuff that’s done in the spring won’t happen,” Campanile says. “But I just don’t see that schools are going to miss on guys because of this.”
'It hasn't stopped anything'
Many prospects are going about the process as if little has changed.
Jefferson junior running back/linebacker Michael Gould is still in the early stages of the recruiting process, and he remains hopeful for the future.
Last summer was the highlight of his journey when he was invited to Notre Dame's summer football camp. Now, Gould, who carried 142 times for 920 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Falcons last season, has been in contact with some college coaches on Twitter.
He has compiled a list of about a dozen schools where he was interested in attending junior days and recruiting camps. Some have been pushed back to May, and others into mid-summer.
But this latest hurdle Gould must clear to reach his dream of playing college football isn't going to slow him down.
"It hasn't stopped anything. I'm still working out every day in my garage, doing strength and speed training," Gould said.
"The virus only really delayed everything for now, but it hasn't stopped anything that I've been doing in preparation for this upcoming season with our new schedule."
What's next?
The looming uncertainty doesn't help the process, but the NCAA could make alterations to allow for more in-person recruiting this summer.
Almost all of July is considered a dead period — perhaps that changes.
It also means that the new "early" National Signing Day in December could see limited signings as more prospects delay their decisions and sign on the traditional February signing day.
There's still much to be determined.
The slowing down of the coronavirus and the health and safety of the players and coaches remains the top priority of the schools.
Commitments likely will continue to roll in for many prospects.
Others may have to make theirs later than they though.
"There’s so much uncertainty," Dohn said. "But I think for kids that are not far along in the process, it will likely delay their decisions."
— Staff writers Greg Mattura, Greg Tufaro, Tom McGurk and Andrew Tredinnick contributed reporting.
Email: iseman@northjersey.com Twitter: @chrisiseman
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