I think it is important to start with what the difference between what each
visit actually is. As unofficial visit is when a recruit visits a school and
pays their way to get there. In most situations, a recruit will take an
unofficial visit to see a college team in action on the football field or
basketball court. Per NCAA rules, the school is allowed to give athletes a
maximum of three tickets to each sporting event that is issued through a pass
list. These have to be regular season events within a thirty mile radius to the
campus. Basically what that means is the school cannot be giving tickets to
recruits of their bowl game or NCAA tournament game. Unofficial visits can occur
at any time.
The difference between that and an official visit is that
the college programs pays for you as an athlete to take that official visit.
They can fly you in or reimburse you for your driving expense included in the
visit. There are also more rules surrounding the official visit that includes
food, lodging, and other specific monetary amounts that are enforced by the
NCAA.
In order to set up an unofficial visit, it really just depends. For
example, a lot of college football coaches will send out a great deal of invites
to their games throughout the fall. With so many juniors on their prospective
recruiting list, the college is likely sending out invites. If the recruits
receive this mail, they will need to call the coach or the school to tell them
that they are coming to visit. Because the three people are allowed in on a pass
gate, they will not be able to get extra tickets and sell them. The NCAA
probably had issues with that in the past and that is why the pass gate is used.
When that happens, the recruits have to bring an ID with them so that they can
get into the game. There is no limit on the amount of unofficial visits you can
do because you are paying for it yourself.
I know of one recruit recently
who considered himself a better prospect then he really was. While he is playing
Division I basketball, he was calling places like Kansas, Wisconsin, and other
top Midwest programs and requesting to visit. Then he would email the
Rivals/247Sports/Scout sites related to school and tell them he took a recent
visit. That is a very interesting way to make sure that people knew where you
were taking trips to.
Official visits are a much different story. They
are regulated by the NCAA so each athlete can only take five official visits
throughout the recruiting process and they are restricted by dates (This does
vary from sport to sport). Depending on the sport and the level, college
programs have a certain number of players that they can bring on campus for
official visit. That is why some schools prefer to bring visitors after their
high school season so they know who is serious about them. Like I said before,
the athletes have their travel paid for and will be reimbursed if they did drive
(I believe it depends on mileage but I am not 100% certain).
In the
majority of situations, schools that extend an invite for an official visit are
likely going to offer you a scholarship. Again, that is in most situations but
taking an official visit means the school is serious about you. Since their
total number of official visitors is restricted, it does mean you are among
their top recruits. What normally happens during the fall open period for
football, the coaches talk to the athletes about setting up an official visit.
While the recruit can bring it up to the coach, normally it is the coach that
brings it up. If they haven’t offered a scholarship or an official visit by
December, chances are slim that you will be receiving a scholarship for
football.
That is just a quick look at the difference between unofficial
and official visits. While some already know this, this is another one of those
recruiting things that are not always known when going into the recruiting
process. With this being a huge time for football and basketball official
visits, I will delve more in depth regarding dates and when these should be
happening later on.