NCAA rescinds satellite football camp ban, and Fresno State breathes a little easier
The NCAA board of directors took advantage of a do-over Thursday, overturning a 3-week-old ban on satellite football camps that have become a summer staple for Fresno State and other bowl subdivision programs.
The Bulldogs for a third year had scheduled camps in Southern and Northern California, in addition to those on campus. But they and others were in limbo after the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast conferences pushed a measure through the Division I Council that prohibited coaches from holding or working off-campus camps.
It’s more affordable and this allows the universities to come to them.
Jimmy Morimoto
Fresno State’s director of player personnel, on the benefit of off-campus camps for schools and prospective recruits“It’s most beneficial to the kids and I think that’s why the NCAA had the reversal on it, just because, all in all, this helps the kids that can’t afford to travel and go all over the country to go to camps,” said Jimmy Morimoto, the Bulldogs’ director of player personnel.
“There will be 1,000 kids that we get to see by traveling around California, and that doesn’t even include the camps that we have here on campus. That’s 20 some odd passing league teams coming over, high school teams, here on campus.”
Coach Tim DeRuyter was traveling and unavailable to comment.
Fresno State will, as scheduled, have a 7-on-7 passing camp on campus June 11, followed by elite and specialist camps June 12. The next five days, they will have camps in San Diego, Norwalk, Riverside, Thousand Oaks, Sacramento and San Pablo – all prime recruiting territory.
The Bulldogs, under DeRuyter, have tried to expand their recruiting, signing players from Texas, Nevada, Georgia, Utah and Washington as well as California, with the camps furthering that strategy.
Coaches can work with and build relationships with high school players, who in turn gain added exposure that can lead to a scholarship offer.
Morimoto also works the All Poly camp in Utah every summer, which draws college coaches from across the country.
Fresno State outside linebackers coach Jordan Peterson, who coordinates the Bulldogs’ summer camps, called it a big victory for student-athletes.
“A lot of the kids that are recruited, or are potential recruits, a lot of them can’t afford to go to a lot of places, so it kind of limits their market to places that are in decent driving range,” Peterson said. “An L.A. kid, for example, realistically, a lot of those kids may not be able to find transportation to even get up to Fresno and it’s only a 3 1/2 -hour drive. If you can’t get to Fresno, and if you’re not going to UCLA or USC or you’re not a national recruit, you might not even get noticed.
“California is already at a point where we don’t get to see a guy outside of the season be in pads, so evaluating from that standpoint is gone. We have a small window to see a guy in spring ball, but it might not necessarily be doing some of the drill work of a position-specific drill.”
In its announcement, the NCAA board of directors asked the council to take a deeper look at the entire recruiting model.
We share the Council’s interest in improving the camp environment and we support the Council’s efforts to create a model that emphasizes the scholastic environment as an appropriate place for recruiting future student-athletes.
NCAA announcement on reversing the satellite-camp ban for coaches and urging a new look at recruiting rules
“The Board of Directors is interested in a holistic review of the football recruiting environment and camps are a piece of that puzzle,” board chair Harris Pastides said in a news release.
The D-I Council voted 10-5 for the ban – with the SEC, ACC, Pacific-12 and Big 12 conferences in favor and the Big Ten the only Power Five conference wanting to keep the satellite camps.
This story was originally published April 28, 2016 at 8:05 PM with the headline "NCAA rescinds satellite football camp ban, and Fresno State breathes a little easier."