The rules that coaches must follow are designed to keep college recruiting as fair as possible for colleges and prospective athletes. Here is a brief breakdown:

For Division I football:

• Coaches can send you stuff like questionnaires, camp brochures, and other non-recruiting stuff whenever.
• There’s no rule on when coaches can make verbal offers.
• Starting September 1 of junior year, coaches can hit you up with emails, texts, and DMs.
• From April 1 to the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June, you can take official visits (just not during camp or clinic stuff). You get 5 official visits max in high school.
• Starting July 1 before senior year, coaches can meet you off-campus, but it’s limited to certain contact periods.
• You can take official visits starting September 1 of senior year, and coaches can call you once a week (except during contact periods, when calls are unlimited).
• In senior year, coaches can meet off-campus with you or your parents up to six times.
• During senior year, coaches can evaluate you once in September, October, and November. Plus, they get two evaluations between April 15 and May 31.

For Division I men’s basketball:

• Coaches can send non-recruiting stuff anytime, and there’s no rule on when they can make verbal offers.
• You can take unofficial visits starting August 1 of sophomore year.
• From June 15 after sophomore year, coaches can call, email, text, or DM you anytime (except during dead and quiet periods).
• When junior year starts, coaches can meet you off-campus, but there are some restrictions.
• From August 1 of junior year, you can take official visits, with a limit of 5 visits in junior year and 5 more between finishing junior year and October 15 after high school.

For Division I women’s basketball:

• Coaches can send non-recruiting stuff anytime, and there’s no rule on when they can make verbal offers. Unofficial visits are allowed too.
• Starting September 1 of junior year, coaches can text, email, and send recruiting materials. They can also call you as much as they want.
• From March 1 of junior year, coaches can meet you off-campus with some restrictions.
• In April of junior year (after the Women’s Final Four), you can start taking up to 5 official visits, except during dead periods.

Once you sign a National Letter of Intent, you’re not subject to NCAA restrictions anymore.