Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!). I'm Bud Elliott, SB Nation's National Recruiting Analyst, and in this space I'll be sharing news, rumors and musings on the world of college football recruiting.
Several schools hosted "junior days" over the weekend. What is a junior day? It's an invite-only day at the school for underclassmen, typically in late winter or early spring.
Recruits get to tour the facility and the campus. They see the meeting rooms, the weight room, the training facilities, the indoor facility, the academic advising facilities, etc. The goal is for the recruit to see what every aspect of college football life would be like at the school.
The recruits get to meet the head coach, and take pictures with the school's gear and any trophies it may have won. They get to talk with their potential future position coaches, and the coaches show them how they could be used, what the program looks for at certain positions, and often, how they can improve their skills for the upcoming seasons. Often, this is the first time the player will have met his future position coach, and his area recruiter will make the introduction.
The recruits also get to hear about the academic side of things, including the academic advising and tutoring program. Many prospects and their parents are quite impressed with the individual academic attention given to each prospect, and that's a major point of emphasis on the tour. Schools want recruits to come away with the impression that the only way they will fail is if they don't put in the work, or don't take advantage of the individual help.
Some schools also put on a player panel, where the staff is out of the room and recruits and parents are able to ask questions of current players, with the assumption that the players will give the real scoop because coaches are not around.
Also of note is what does not happen at junior days: workout and and evaluation. Schools cannot have players run combine-style drills or put them through any workouts. They do, however, get to see if the prospect is really the size his high school coach claims, and prospects who measure up often come away with offers.