Recruiting is the lifeblood of college athletics, but even in the best of times, it's an inexact science. These are not the best of times.
Junior college recruiting is in a “dead” period until at least May 15. Coaches cannot meet face to face with high school athletes, either on campus or on the road.
“It's difficult for everybody,” said Sharon Thompson, athletic director and womens’ basketball coach at East Mississippi. “This would normally be the month when we would have tryouts and would bring the kids in. They come in and work out. All you can do now is text and call, facetime calls. If you don’t get to see them face to face it’s difficult to judge.”
Some kids submit highlight videos to colleges. “But if you haven’t seen the kid play, I don’t care what sport it is, you are not going to judge them a lot by a highlight film,” Thompson said. “I think I can speak for every coach in the country, you want to put your eyes on the kid.”
May 15 is the earliest junior college coaches might be able to have contact with kids. Depending upon the coronavirus situation, the National Junior College Athletic Association might extend the dead period. For the NCAA, it’s May 31.
East Central baseball coach Neal Holliman said “It’s very limited. We have been doing a lot of phone calls, looking at videos that kids have sent us and stuff like that.”
The NJCAA has granted spring sport athletes a third year of eligibility and Holliman said about five of his players will take advantage of the extra year. “It’s nice to have good players back and have them around as long as you can.”
Third year players will not count against the junior college scholarship limit of 24 nor the roster limit of 30.
East Central was 10-8 overall and 8-2 against state competition when the season ended. The final game March 9 was a 4-2 victory over East Mississippi. East Webster graduate Walker Johnson was the winning pitcher, allowing one hit in four innings.
Trae Embry is a recent hire as Holmes softball coach. “It’s very difficult,” he said of recruiting at this time. “No. 1, you can’t have any contact with players other than on the phone or by text. You can’t even get players on campus to show them the campus.”
He completed his 2020 recruiting prior to the dead period, signing 10 players. “I’ve started working 2021.”
Embry moves into the junior college ranks after a highly successful high school career in Mississippi. He won fast-pitch state titles at Eupora in 2005, ’06 and’07 and slow-pitch title in 2005 and’07 before moving to Neshoba Central where his teams won the last seven championships in fast-pitch and the last eight in slow-pitch.
“You always want to try to better yourself,” he said. “Opportunities have been there before, but the opportunities never worked out. I think it (Holmes) is a great place with something we can build.”
He is a Eupora native.
