Coaches CAN briefly say hello to recruits if they happen to see them while they're on campus conducting one of the spring evaluations. The NCAA calls this the bump rule, and it's amazing how recruiters manage to bump into the one player they're looking for at a high school with hundreds of students and teachers.
Coaches CAN'T engage in a lengthy conversation with a prospect while they bump into them on a high school campus. Most coaches follow the rule, simply shaking a kid's hand and telling him they look forward to talking with them more at a later point. But each spring there are numerous stories -- and even videos in today's tech-savvy world -- of coaches spending lengthy time talking with recruits. Some high school coaches even try to arrange these meetings with recruiters, without knowing they're causing a coach to break NCAA rules.