<p>fogfog- The NCAA rules booklet does indeed allow young athletes to contact coaches. The junior can call the coach to speak. But the coach cannot initiate the communication until the NCAA calendar allows. The NCAA page you reference is the guideline for coach-initiated calls to students, not student calls to coaches.</p>
<p>In sports like swimming, rowing,track and cross-country, athletes generally continue to improve their PRs, so recruiting is often done much later (after junior year). A coach wants to see the latest races. </p>
<p>With the large rosters for soccer, football, LAX, etc., coaches want to start the process earlier to pinpoint the standouts, and build relationships.</p>