On the heels of the SEC's decision to suspend in-person recruiting through March 30, the NCAA has reportedly taken it a step further, mandating a recruiting "dead period" for all sports until at least April 15 due to Coronavirus concerns.

National writers like CBS' Jon Rothstein and Dennis Dodd and The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach were among those reporting the development on Twitter Friday afternoon. South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner confirmed it on Friday night.

A dead period means that there will be no in-person recruiting, on- or off-campus, during that time period, though coaches will still be able to continue to recruit players over the phone.

ALSO SEE: Carolina Confidential - Recruiting effects for Gamecocks and more

The current NCAA recruiting calendar already kept college football coaches from visiting schools of prospective student-athletes this month, but the Gamecocks (and football programs around the country) planned to host prospects on campus throughout the month, prior to Thursday's announcement.

South Carolina hosted large groups of recruits on its campus on March 1 and March 5 and was scheduled to again host a group of recruits on March 21.

This year's football recruiting calendar designates April 15-May 31 as the evaluation period, the time period in which college coaches can designate days to visit high schools of prospective student-athletes for evaluation purposes.

That means if the new dead period truly only goes until April 15 and isn't ultimately extended, then the football evaluation period will feel minimal effects, though the fluidity of the entire situation tells us that the recruiting suspension could be extended at any time.

It appears there will be much stronger effects in the college basketball world. While the two spring evaluation periods for men's and women's basketball are scheduled for April 17-19 and April 24-26 -- outside of the current dead period -- both Nike and adidas have already canceled their premier men's basketball showcase events for those weekends with Under Armour sure to follow.

Basketball does have evaluation periods during June and July as well.

“I know that’s a stance all us coaches that are on that board: (John) Calipari, (Bob) Huggins, Mike Brey, all of us. It was unanimous. It’s not just the athletes we’re trying to recruit,” Frank Martin said Thursday of potentially shutting down spring recruiting. “We’re husbands and fathers. Some of us still have our parents. For us traveling around in difficult times ... we need to take care of our people too.”