By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
With a nice mix of perimeter skills and size in the post, William & Mary's four-man men's basketball recruiting class covered a range of needs. But there's something unusual about this group. Tribe basketball coach Dane Fischer has personally met only one of them.
 
That was point guard Tyler Rice, who visited W&M's campus in December 2019. Three months later, the pandemic shut everything down — including in-person recruiting and campus visits in college athletics.
 
Not that Fischer has any reservations about versatile wing Julian Lewis, 6-foot-10 Langdon Hatton, or veteran transfer Brandon Carroll. But they were signed practically sight-unseen, with video used for evaluation and electronic devices for conversations.
 
On June 1, in a welcomed sign of normalcy, the NCAA ended the "dead period" it had put in place 15 months ago. Coaches can now resume their normal recruiting calendars, which mean on-campus visits and in-person evaluations are back this summer.
 
"It's been a really long time since we've been on the road and able to evaluate kids in person," Fischer said. "We're looking forward to doing that and we're really excited about being able to bring people to campus.
 
"One of the best selling points here is this campus and this area. To have an opportunity to bring kids here with their families is really something we're looking forward to. We're really excited about it."
 
Men's basketball began June with a "quiet period," in which there are no evaluations and the only in-person recruiting contact must be on the campus — such as official or unofficial visits. An evaluation period will fall on the third and fourth weekends and for 10 days in July.
 
Women's basketball will have a quiet period from June 1-July 5 and then 12 evaluation days over the next three weeks.
 
Football will have a quiet period through June and July. However, coaches will be able conduct on campus evaluations of prospects in the 2021 and '22 classes as well as transfers.
 
These evaluations must be conducted when camps and clinics are allowed, which for the Championship Subdivision is June and July. The prospects must be on unofficial visits — i.e., not paid for by the university.
 
"For these kids who maybe missed out on the process, it's all being accelerated," W&M football coach Mike London said. "Now when they come to your campus, there are things you can do to access their athletic skills.
 
"We had our (prospect) camps last weekend with several campers signed up. The ability to work them out and get another evaluation for the (Classes of) '21s and '22s, with the new ruling that came out, it's been quite interesting."
 
For women's soccer coach Julie Shackford, evaluation has already gotten started.
 
"On June first, we went to our first practices in Northern Virginia to a couple of clubs up there," she said. "Big showcases are finally opening up. They had been streaming the games so we could watch on our computers, but obviously, that's not the same.
 
"The prospects are so excited because so many of them are depending on us for the next step in their development. And we get to have our camps, which we're going to do here in Williamsburg. It's really exciting."
 
Women's basketball coach Ed Swanson plans to have recruits visit later this month before hitting the road for the evaluation period in July.
 
"There's a lot of things you can see on film," said Swanson. "But there's nothing like being there and watching that individual play and interact with her teammates and coaches. That's critically important. It's a good feeling to get back on the road."
 
There is plenty of ground to make up.
 
"We're certainly behind in terms of how much we've been able to evaluate," Fischer said. "What was really different about this past high school season was that every high school season was different. Some didn't play at all, some played half a season. A lot of them played wearing masks.
 
"There were so many different variables that even if you were able to get some film, you're watching them under a different context. There hasn't been a recruit on campus in something like 17 months. We'll have a pretty good amount coming through in the month of June."