Get Ready for the Madness: College Football Recruiting Dead Period Has Ended

Set common sense aside for next few weeks—we've officially reached college football's crazy season. 

The recruiting "dead period" concluded at midnight Wednesday, allowing coaching staffs to enter a full-throttled frenzy while dealing with targeted prospects. Few things are certain during this 21-day stretch toward national signing day, aside from the fact that America's top senior high school players will probably spend more time speaking with grown men then their girlfriends until Feb. 4.

The dead period places restrictions on in-person contact between coaches and recruits. Whether a meeting were to take place on or off campus, it's off limits.

This stretch, which lasted Dec. 15 to Jan. 14, did permit written and electronic communication.

Given the growth of social media and the simple act of texting, you better believe some semblance of contact was made during the past month. However, now the fun really starts.

An obvious result of the dead period lift is resumed official visit schedules. Prospects will spend the next three weekends traveling across the regions with family and friends to get a final detailed look at universities before cementing their future on signing day.

In the case of coveted cornerback Iman Marshall, four trips on the docket during an upcoming 14-day span. Florida State, Michigan and LSU and Oregon will each welcome the Southern California standout to campus. 

Marshall is one of several 5-star recruits (as per 247Sports) who remain undecided entering the final stretch of their multi-year recruitments. Many of them will be racking up sky mileage in coming weeks.

Name	Position	Overall Ranking	Scheduled Visits
Martez Ivey	OT	1st	None
Byron Cowart	DE	3rd	Auburn, Florida and FSU
Iman Marshall	CB	4th	FSU, Michigan, LSU and Oregon
CeCe Jefferson	DE	5th	Auburn and LSU
Rasheem Green	DT	15th	USC and Arizona State
Terry Beckner	DE	16th	Auburn, Ohio State and Missouri
Daylon Mack	DT	17th	Texas A&M and Auburn
Soso Jamabo	RB	28th	Texas A&M and Texas

Of course, those are just the uncommitted prospects. Plenty of players who previously pledged elsewhere are still exploring other options. 

The list of possible high-profile flips includes Ohio State quarterback commit Torrance Gibson (visiting Auburn and LSU), Florida State running back commit Johnny Frasier (visiting Alabama and North Carolina State) and Florida State quarterback commit Deondre Francois (visiting Florida).

We'll be focused on these campus stays, but a bulk of notable recruiting action will take place away from school. Coaches are already being deployed to towns across the nation, attempting to entice recruits with last-ditch sales pitches.

Most began their morning at an airport terminal or in a rental car, en route to small communities far from home.

Auburn offensive line coach J.B. Grimes headed to Apopka High School in Florida to spend time with top-rated tackle Martez Ivey, per Keith Niebuhr of 247Sports (subscription required). New Tigers defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will also be in the Sunshine State to see 5-star defensive end CeCe Jefferson, who he formerly pursued at Florida.

Michigan defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin is headed to South Florida, where he'll meet with Rutgers cornerback commit Jarius Adams, per Todderick Hunt of NJ.com. Notre Dame plans to dispense assistants to Southern California for an in-home visit with 4-star wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, according to Adam Gorney of Rivals.

Nebraska head coach Mike Riley, hired just six weeks ago, showed off the Cornhuskers' recruiting range Thursday by sharing an eye-opening graphic on Twitter:

Aside from hunting down uncommitted recruits, coaches are also tasked with taking time to sit down with committed players and their families. It's an opportunity to iron out any issues and ensure that pledge stays intact through signing day.

Simply put, if Urban Meyer is sitting across from you at the dinner table and discussing the possible design of his third straight national champion ring, it's going to be much more difficult to decommit during the next few weeks than if he had simply sent you a Facebook message.

It's also worth watching how well Jim McElwain and Jim Harbaugh can revitalize ravaged recruiting classes at Florida and Michigan, respectively. Both coaches have immense work to do and will likely look to lure talent away from other programs in the process.

Some folks spout off about a lack of "ethics" when it comes to recruiting currently committed players, but this annually occurs in every corner of the country. Expect a series of high-profile commitment flips to alter the landscape of this cycle before we turn the page to 2016 prospects.

Coaching changes and the inaugural College Football Playoffs have claimed a spotlight throughout the past month, but recruiting madness now takes center stage.

Prepare for three weeks of the unpredictable.

Recruit ratings courtesy of 247Sports.