A: Yes, coaches have been putting together their preliminary ‘Watch Lists’ of prospects for each class, even if players are too young to contact or recruit. These are just their base lists, their early lists—used to get the process going for the next recruitable class.
These lists change DRASTICALLY during the first few months of these evaluation periods. Coaches take their base lists, go on the road, and will drop and add many players from these initial lists.
Don’t panic if you are not invited to Junior Days – you will still have plenty of opportunities to get your foot in the door and to get the recruiting process going during your junior season and even senior year.
Junior Days are important for coaches to be able to size up players in person, get a feel for their decision factors and interests, their personalities, building early relationships with their family, coaches and mentors. Coaches also want players to get a feel for campus, their program, their coaching staff and their university—so as much as they are getting to know you if you are invited, they want you to get to know them and what they have to offer.
