Welcome to The Recruiting Rules!

In this series, we’ll take a look at the things teams across the country do to build their rosters, and give you the guidelines for recruiting success.

For every team, and for every recruiting analyst, there are different ideas about what specific things matter more than others. But in general, there are some trends and moves that can be seen from team to team and year to year, regardless of level.

No, this isn’t going line by line through the NCAA bylaws covering recruiting; it’s better! I spoke with recruiting analysts from around the country, who collectively have more than 100 years combined experience in covering the wonderful world of recruiting. I took their input, as well as my own thoughts, and put together a list of things that schools do, or should do, to build their rosters.

In addition to myself and my more than 8 years following and blogging about the recruiting game, here is the panel of recruiting analysts who have lent their expertise to help build The Recruiting Rules (listed in alphabetical order):

Tyler Donohue, Penn State Nittany Lions recruiting reporter for 247sports, formerly of Cox Media, Bleacher/Report, ESPN radio, and Rutgers recruiting department.
Bud Elliott, SB Nation National Recruiting Analyst, TomahawkNation founder.
Michael Felder, Host for Watch Stadium, formerly of CollegeSportsNow and Bleacher/Report covering football and recruiting.
David Furones, South Florida Sun-Sentinel recruiting and HS sports beat writer, formerly of the Miami Herald.
John Garcia Jr., Alabama Crimson Tide recruiting reporter for 247sports, host of Crimson and Blue Chips podcast.
Joe Garcia Jr., former State of the U recruiting contributor.
Andrew Ivins, Miami Hurricanes recruiting reporter for 247sports, formerly a Notre Dame recruiting reporter for Blue and Gold Illustrated, and FAU recruiting reporter.
Sanjay Kirpalani, host of the Recruitniks podcast, formerly of Cox Media and Bleacher/Report.
Barrett Sallee, CBS Sports College Football writer/analyst, XM CFB Radio host, Host of the Smothered and Covered and CFB Hangover Podcasts.
JT Wilcox, Football reporter covering NFL, College, and Preps for the Miami Sports Tribune, formerly of FootballHotbed.com, South Florida High School Sports, and CBS Miami.

Now that you know what we’re going to talk about, and who’s going to talk about it, sit back, relax, and take notes as you familiarize yourself with The Recruiting Rules.