In his weekly “Mind of Mike” column, longtime Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell opened with the following paragraphs:

“I’m lucky. Make that blessed. In a year in which almost everything has gone wrong and the world is in an awful place, college football was supposed to be a respite, an escape from reality. But with the Big Ten and Pac-12 postponing their seasons to the spring and the SEC, ACC and Big 12 still deciding, college football won’t do it for many.

“So why am I lucky and blessed? Because I cover not only college football but also college football recruiting. And college football recruiting is not going anywhere. In fact, college football recruiting, the transfer portal and roster management will be as interesting as it’s ever been.

“The best thing about covering college football recruiting? It never stops. National strife, pandemic, football postponement — none of it stops colleges from recruiting the next group of college football stars.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Here are a few examples of what’s to watch in football recruiting whether there is football or not on the field this fall:

NC State head coach Dave Doeren has made it clear that he anticipates a higher-than-normal amount of decommitments this fall. With conferences canceling fall football, will that open the door for Doeren’s theory or close it?

On one aspect, players who were committed to schools a good amount of travel away may now reconsider whether or not it is worth being so far from home for college, and the cancellations of fall football not only at the college level but in high schools may serve to only bring that point home clearer.

On the other hand, some of those programs now will have a blank canvass of sorts to reassure recruits. They won’t have to worry about on-field results and deal with the potential complicated issues that surround playing in a pandemic.

How’s it going to play out? Odds are Doeren’s notion will prove correct because of one aspect above all — the extended recruiting dead period prohibits official visits. That means lots of players are committed to schools knowing less about them than previous prospects knew about the programs they picked.

Need further evidence? In The Wolfpacker’s top 20 that is released weekly there are currently five players who are currently committed to other schools, coincidentally all of them ACC rivals.

As Farrell noted, roster management is going to “be as fluid as ever.”

NC State is no exception to that. It already has three different players who have received a sixth-year of eligibility in tight ends Dylan Autenrieth and Dylan Parham plus receiver C.J. Riley. That’s an unusual phenomenon in itself, but what will the NCAA decide to do with roster size limits in the wake of the Big Ten and Pac-12, along with a few other mid-major conferences, deciding to cancel fall football.

If none of those respective leagues can get a spring season off the ground, it almost surely will have to extend the eligibility rules, and would fairness dictate that those who do play will be included in that? If so, could NC State receive a bump on the 85-scholarship limit which would allow it to take even more transfers and recruits than originally planned?

The transfer portal is likely to be active as well, and a lot may depend on what comes out of the decisions made by the NCAA regarding eligibility.

Since the recruiting dead period was extended through September and is unlikely to be lifted this fall or winter, does it change the dynamic of the early signing period? And furthermore, would there even be an early signing period in December? Might we go back to the fun and thrilling days of the first Wednesday in February being an action-packed, minute-by-minute breaking news affair?

Moving the signing periods back may be a way to allow prospects to take official visits. And if that happens, the flood of players hitting the road will be impressive. Even committed recruits would then likely take advantage of the opportunity to see multiple schools.

One thing is for certain, once the dead period ends, players and high school coaches who have been cooped up during the seemingly endless quarantine are likely to be chomping at the bit to get back out on the road.

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