The football recruiting timeline is not one calendar. It's four overlapping calendars — FBS, FCS, D2, and D3 — each running at a different speed, with different contact rules, different offer windows, and different deadlines that matter. Families who apply the FBS timeline to a D2 situation will panic about being behind when they're right on schedule. Families who apply the D3 timeline to an FBS situation will miss deadlines they didn't know existed.
This guide maps the football recruiting process month by month, from freshman year through signing day, and breaks down exactly how the calendar shifts depending on the division your athlete is targeting. If you're looking for the broader overview of how football recruiting works, start there. This article is about when things happen.
The year-by-year arc of football recruiting follows a pattern, but the intensity and stakes shift depending on where your athlete falls in the talent distribution and which division level is realistic.
Freshman year (9th grade):
No coaches are calling. That's normal. Use this year to build the foundation that makes everything after it possible. Start accumulating NCAA core courses — these count from day one and cannot be made up later. Play varsity if possible. Begin building a film library, even if the clips are raw. Identify whether your athlete projects as an FBS, FCS, D2, or D3 prospect based on honest evaluation from high school and club coaches. Most families skip this assessment and default to "D1," which is not a plan.
Sophomore year (10th grade):
Begin attending college camps in the summer between sophomore and junior year. For FBS prospects, this is the first window where coaches evaluate in person and can form opinions that lead to offers. Create a Hudl profile with quality game film — not a highlight reel of touchdowns, but film that shows technique, positioning, and football IQ. Start researching programs and building a list of 30 to 40 schools across multiple levels. Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. For athletes targeting D2 or D3, outreach to coaches is appropriate now and welcomed.
Junior year (11th grade):
This is the year the process accelerates for every division. September 1 of junior year is the date when D1 and D2 coaches can begin initiating phone calls, texts, and direct messages to prospects. FBS programs extend most of their offers between September and December. FCS programs ramp up evaluations and begin making offers. D2 programs initiate serious contact. Attend Junior Day events at target schools — these invitation-only visits are a strong signal of interest. Take unofficial visits. If you're hearing from coaches consistently, the process is working. If you're not hearing from anyone at a given level by January of junior year, recalibrate.
Senior year (12th grade):
The early signing period in mid-December is the first hard deadline. Athletes who've received and accepted offers sign here. The traditional National Signing Day in early February is the second. Between those dates, programs that lost commitments or need to fill roster gaps re-enter the market. D2 programs recruit through senior fall and into spring. D3 programs actively recruit seniors well into April and sometimes later. Senior year is not too late — but it is the wrong year to still be targeting only FBS.
FBS vs. FCS vs. D2 vs. D3: how timelines differ by division
The division your athlete targets determines the clock they're on. These timelines overlap but are not interchangeable.
FBS (Power Four and Group of Five):
The most compressed timeline in college football. Power Four programs identify and evaluate prospects at summer camps between sophomore and junior year. Offers begin arriving in late summer or early fall of junior year. By December of junior year, many rosters are substantially filled through verbal commitments. Group of Five programs run a few months behind Power Four but follow the same general arc — most offers are extended by the end of junior year.
FCS (Division I-AA):
FCS coaches follow D1 contact rules but recruit on a longer window. Evaluations happen through junior year, with offers extending from junior winter through senior fall. Many FCS programs are watching which athletes don't receive FBS offers and then pursuing them. An athlete who was on FBS radars but didn't get an offer is often a prime FCS target — if they've been proactive about FCS contact.
D2:
D2 programs have 36 equivalency scholarships and recruit with more patience. Serious contact begins junior year, but offers routinely extend into senior fall and even senior spring. D2 coaches pair athletic scholarships with academic aid to build competitive packages, which means the financial conversation takes longer to resolve. Athletes who maintain contact with D2 programs through senior year often find strong opportunities that weren't available earlier.
D3:
D3 programs offer no athletic scholarships but can advocate for recruits in admissions and support financial aid packages. D3 recruiting peaks in senior year. Many D3 coaches are building rosters through the spring and even into the summer. The D3 timeline gives families the most flexibility — and the most time to make a thoughtful decision about academic and athletic fit.
| Division | Evaluation window opens | Peak offer period | Recruiting extends through |
|---|
| FBS (Power Four) | Summer before junior year | Junior fall (Sept–Dec) | Early signing period (December) |
| FBS (Group of Five) | Summer before junior year | Junior year | National Signing Day (February) |
| FCS | Junior year | Junior winter–senior fall | Senior spring |
| D2 | Junior year | Junior spring–senior fall | Senior spring |
| D3 | Junior–senior year | Senior fall–spring | Summer before college |
Specific dates and periods on the NCAA calendar govern when coaches can make contact, host visits, and evaluate prospects. These shift slightly each year, but the structure is consistent.
September 1, junior year: D1 and D2 coaches can begin calling, texting, and direct-messaging prospects. Before this date, coaches can send recruits recruiting materials and questionnaires, but cannot initiate personal contact. Athletes can contact coaches at any time — there is no restriction on athlete-initiated communication.
June–July (summer camps): College camps are the primary in-person evaluation window. FBS programs host position-specific camps where coaches evaluate prospects directly. Attending camps at schools where you have genuine interest is one of the highest-value activities in the recruiting process. Generic third-party "recruiting showcases" are not the same thing.
Junior Day events (January–March, junior year): Programs invite prospects to campus for group visits. Receiving a Junior Day invitation signals real interest. Not receiving one from a program you've contacted is data — the program may not be prioritizing your athlete at this time.
Official visits (senior year): Athletes receive five official visits total across all D1 programs. These are campus visits paid for by the school. Use them strategically — an official visit is a significant investment from the program and signals mutual serious interest.
Early signing period (mid-December, senior year): The first window to sign a National Letter of Intent. Most FBS commitments sign here. Programs that lose commitments during this period re-enter the market.
National Signing Day (first Wednesday in February, senior year): The traditional signing day. Programs fill remaining roster spots. FCS, D2, and some FBS programs are still actively signing athletes.
Spring signing period (April–August): D2 and D3 programs continue recruiting. Athletes who haven't signed can still find legitimate opportunities, particularly at D2 and D3 programs that had late roster changes.
Coaches at each level have specific expectations about what recruits should have prepared at each stage. Meeting these expectations signals that your family understands the process.
By the end of sophomore year:
A Hudl profile with game film, not just highlights. Basic measurables (height, weight, 40-yard dash, position-specific numbers). An NCAA Eligibility Center registration. A general sense of which programs fit academically and athletically.
By September 1 of junior year:
Updated film from junior season, uploaded within 48 hours of each game. A target list of 20 to 40 programs across multiple divisions. A first-contact email ready to send — direct, specific to the program, with film links and academic information included. Coaches expect athletes to know how to email a college coach professionally. A generic mass email signals a family that hasn't done the work.
By the end of junior year:
A clear picture of which programs are interested and at what level. Unofficial visits completed or scheduled. An understanding of the financial picture at each level — not just scholarship percentages, but actual out-of-pocket cost. A narrowed list of 10 to 15 serious options.
By senior fall:
Senior film updated weekly. Responses to every coach who's reached out. Official visits planned or completed. A decision framework for evaluating offers that accounts for academics, athletics, finances, and fit — not just which name sounds best.
Waiting for FBS interest that isn't coming. The most damaging mistake in football recruiting. A family spends sophomore and junior year focused solely on FBS programs, doesn't hear back, and discovers in senior fall that FCS and D2 coaches have already filled their classes. The fix is simple: pursue multiple levels simultaneously from the start. Reaching out to FCS and D2 programs is not giving up on FBS — it's building options while the FBS process plays out.
Treating September 1 as the start instead of a milestone. Coaches can begin contacting athletes on September 1 of junior year, but the evaluation process starts long before that. Athletes who haven't attended camps, built a film profile, and initiated outreach before September 1 are starting the conversation cold when other recruits already have warm relationships.
Ignoring the D3 timeline because "there are no scholarships." D3 football programs field competitive teams at schools with strong academic reputations and substantial financial aid. The lack of athletic scholarships does not mean the lack of financial support. Dismissing D3 programs eliminates hundreds of legitimate opportunities based on a misunderstanding of how college financial aid works.
Sending film too late. Coaches build their recruiting boards throughout the fall. Film from October sent in February is too late for programs that filled their needs in December. Upload film within days of each game, not at the end of the season.
Not recalibrating when the market sends clear signals. If your athlete has emailed 20 FBS programs and received zero responses by November of junior year, the market is communicating. That doesn't mean your athlete can't play college football. It means FBS may not be the right level — and FCS, D2, and D3 programs that would be excited about your athlete are waiting to hear from them.
The bottom line
The football recruiting timeline rewards families who understand which clock they're on and act accordingly. FBS compresses everything into a narrow window between sophomore summer and junior December. FCS and D2 give more room. D3 gives the most. The athletes who end up in the right programs are rarely the ones who waited for one level to work out — they're the ones who ran multiple tracks at once and made informed decisions when the offers arrived.
For the full picture of how the college recruiting timeline works across all sports and how football compares, start with our sport-by-sport overview. If you're working through the financial side — particularly the difference between FBS head count scholarships and FCS or D2 equivalency aid — our guide to football athletic scholarships breaks down the numbers by division. And when you're ready to start contacting coaches, the guide to emailing a football college coach covers exactly what to include, who to address, and what gets a response. When you're ready to research specific programs, our guide to D1 colleges for football breaks down the FBS vs. FCS landscape by conference tier and helps you identify which programs match your athlete's level. For the NCAA's official contact, evaluation, and dead period calendar — the regulatory framework that controls when coaches can call, visit, and evaluate — our NCAA football recruiting calendar maps every period month by month.