WATCH: Latest NCAA decision to extend on-campus recruiting dead period hits hard

For something referred to as a “dead” period, this thing has an extended lifetime. There’s probably a clear “The Neverending Story” quip to make about this immortal dead period, too.

The NCAA gave more life to the current dead period on Wednesday evening. Football recruits will not be allowed to visit a campus and meet face-to-face with the coaches at a school of interest for another six weeks.

The dead period now extends until May 31, 2021.

That was after the whole month of February of 2020 was also a dead period. Prior to that, a few high-level Class of 2022 targets also got to take visits on “Junior Day” type events in January of 2020. That was so long ago it was when the Class of 2020 had still not finished its recruiting process.

How big is the dead period? It will have lasted 15 consecutive months. The Class of 2022 was set to be able to take its official visits in April under the previous recruiting calendar. If they do get to visit schools again on June 1, it will mean they will have just seven months to visit schools again prior to the early signing period in December.

The news drew a smattering of reaction on Wednesday from some high-profile recruits and targets in the 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes.