Florida head coach Billy Donovan’s penchant to recruit high school sophomores or younger isn’t necessarily viewed by his SEC colleagues as wrong, but the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC ) is trying provide a strong voice in favor of ending it.

Donovan, who has received commitments three times from players during or before their sophomore years, received a fourth verbal commitment earlier this month from an Orlando guard (Austin Rivers ) who has yet to enter his sophomore year of high school.

But Donovan is not the only coach offering college opportunities to high school underclassmen. Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey has actively recruited three soon-to-be sophomores this summer, including Pulaski Academy star Aaron Ross.

The 6-foot-7 guard recently verbally committed to attend the UA after his high school eligibility ends in three years.

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The NABC threw its hat in the recruiting arena in a news release June 19 that was “ strongly” opposed to the recruitment of players who are sophomores or younger. The recommendation has caught the eye of most of the SEC’s coaches.

Auburn’s Jeff Lebo, Alabama’s Mark Gottfried and LSU’s Trent Johnson said they have chosen not to recruit players so young.

Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie, who received verbal commitments from an eighth and ninth grader earlier this year, agreed to follow the NABC recommendation earlier this month, according to a report in the Louisville Courier-Journal. However, going on what Gillispie said during an SEC coaches teleconference on Wednesday, he has presumably changed his mind.

“ You always want to try to do what the coaches’ organization asks, but you’re not going to sit by the wayside while other people are getting ahead of you, ” Gillispie said.

Meanwhile, Pelphrey said he hasn’t spent a lot of time dwelling on the hot-button issue.

“ If [coaches ] are going to work hard, that’s all guys are trying to do — work hard and get the best players they can for their programs, ” Pelphrey said. “... I know it seems like it’s more prevalent today than it has been. ”

Pelphrey believes the rise of Internet reporting, newspapers and television has brought more focus to an issue that has always been around.

He even referenced personal experience to prove his point.

The Arkansas coach said he remembered a TV crew “ shoving a camera ” in his face to ask where he’d like to go to college when he was a freshman basketball player at Paintsville (Ky. ) High School.

“ And I told them, ” said Pelphrey, who later went on to star at Kentucky.

Most SEC coaches weren’t dead-set on either side of the issue during the Wednesday coaches teleconference.

“ I think it’s a pretty good situation to wait. I know me, personally, it’s very difficult to judge kids when they’re in ninth and 10 th grade, ” Auburn’s Lebo said. “ Some kids are very advanced at that age and don’t get better, some don’t grow, some actually get worse. And then academically, you don’t have any transcript information to go by to get them in school. ”

There’s also the inclusion of the special circumstances and situation for recruiting a younger player — such as relationships with a player or their family derived from some college coaches participating in seventh and eighth grade camps.

Florida’s Donovan said the NABC should be “ clearer” with the issue relating to recruitment and the camps.

“ We have not done stuff like that and our situation is much more based upon what we feel is in the best interest of a young man at the University of Florida by way of a relationship, ” Donovan said. “ I don’t even think you can compare some of the situations to [the recruitment of Rivers ]. ”

The recommended standard to not actively recruit a high school athlete until their junior year is almost too hard to uphold, LSU’s first-year coach explained.

“ I agree with [the NABC recommendation ], ” Johnson said before adding, “ Personally, when a kid is a recruitable athlete, I’m going to evaluate [him ]. ”

Still, for the most part, the standard for evaluations remain for several of the coaches who addressed the topic.

“ It’s hard for me to get excited about a kid going into ninth grade or 10 th grade, ” Johnson said.