NCAA Contact/Scholarship Offers for 2012's

July 1st 2011 for contact and November 2011 for signing NLI.

Letters in September, 2011?

Coaches can offer anytime on campus. They also can offer anytime during a phone call, assuming the player/parent called the coach.

They can make written offers starting on September 1 of the players junior year (less than 6 weeks from now for 2012s). September 1 is the earliest date that they can send letters or emails (other than generic info or camp invititations), so that is the earliest a written offer can be made.

ETA: Note that Proposal 2009-47B was adopted on June 28, and after August 1, 2010, written offers for D1 can't made until Aug 1 of the player's senior year. So a 2012 can't receive a written offer until a year from now, but a 2011 could receive one now.

Coaches can call or make off-campus contact on July 1 following the junior year.

Even a written offer is not binding on either the college or the player. A NLI (first signable in November of the senior year) is binding.

D2 allows contact on June 15 following the junior year.

3FG,

So a 2012 or younger player can still get an offer, as long as they use only spoken words?

As in, "We are going to offer you X%. Unfortunately we can't put that in writing until August 1 prior to your senior year, but you have our word." Is that it?

Here's the text of the revised rule as shown in the proposal. Expeerience tells me that the exact language may change in the Manual, but not the sense. Additions are bolded, deleted text is shown as strikethrough.
13.9.2.2 Written Offer of Aid Before Signing Date. An Prior to August 1 of a prospective student-athlete's senior year in high school, an institution shall not provide a written offer of athletically related financial aid or indicate in writing to the prospective student-athlete that an athletically related grant-in-aid will be offered by the institution. On or after August 1 of a prospective student-athlete's senior year in high school, an institution may indicate in writing to a prospective student-athlete that an athletically related grant-in-aid will be offered by the institution; however, the institution may not permit the prospective student-athlete to sign a form indicating his or her acceptance of such an award before the initial signing date in that sport in the National Letter of Intent program.

So I think that a coach could say they'll offer, but not write that they intend to offer.

Note that a new proposal has also been floated this year which would prohibit verbal offers before July 1 after the player's junior year. Seems a little dificult to enforce.....

This may also be helpful

New NCAA rules for recruting