Notes for the class of 2011

This column by ESPN's Mark Lewis deserves its own post, so full of great info that it is:

Now is the time to be proactive about your recruitment. Now is the time to make those unofficial visits. Now is the time to narrow your lists. Now is the time to find out who's offering and who's not and to find out who's serious about your future. Now is the time I need stop trying to sound like one of President Obama's speeches.

First things first, let's visit some recruiting calendar realities. Division I coaches have three days to evaluate off campus in April (17-19) and 20 days in July (6-15 and 22-31). That's it until next fall, so a lot of thought has to go into who you play with and what events they will attend during those time frames.

Another recruiting calendar time line to take note of is all of the specific parameters surrounding phone calls. This year coaches can begin calling you the 9th of April and are allowed only a single call between then and the end of the month. They can then make another individual call anytime in the month of May.

Pay attention to who makes those calls to you in April and May in particular. If you're high on the priority list, it will be the head coach. With only one call permissible in each of those two months, it's hard to imagine any program's top prospects won't get a call from the big cheese once they're allowed to do the dialing.

Between June 1 and 20 they get another call and from the 21st to the 30th one more. Still with me? Then, in the entire month of July they can call you a total of three times, but no more than one time per week.

And just to stir things up a bit more, they cannot call you at any point during those 20 permitted July evaluation days. To simplify July, they have four time slots to get three calls in. The 1st through 4th, on the 5th only, the 17th or 18th and the 19th through 21st with no more than one call in any three of those periods.

Following July it gets simple, one call per week the rest of the way. Once you sign a national letter of intent with a school they then have unlimited phone calls.

You reading and listening, kids?????