Wow where is all of your info coming from?
Orals would be a horrible choice as all that would give you improvements worth the risk take about 5 weeks to clear. Test prop or test suspension is the way to go.. anyway, i'll post up a message I wrote somebody that pretty much sums it up; I don't feel like writing it out. This has to do w/ D1-AA, but still solid info. If you want specific info, go to that link at the bottom and find your division
---------------
The NCAA requires a roster of all active players from each school. I don't know how often its updated, but I'm pretty sure every time they're going to take a test, the head trainer sends an updated roster w/ everybody on the team (scout team and all). The roster is put into a computer and depending on the division of your institution, a certain # of names is spit out. If you're not D-1A, the majority of the test is football players (if your school has football) and then they randomly select another sport and a handful of names from that sport.
So in short, yes incoming freshmen are eligible for testing. If you're planning on taking something, I would stick with nothing longer than test prop. hCG and others are listed as illegal but I don't think they test for them; even if they do you're test/epitest will have to be off first, then the sample is analyzed further.
Sorry for the length, I'm just trying to give you the whole pic. Write me back if you have any other questions.
PS - All that is from personal experience and info I gathered from my trainers and reading the NCAA website over 4 years of playing - no rumors in there.
-----------
Well this past summer (summer '06) they implemented year-round (including summer) testing. I think with D-IA (maybe AA) they included football and baseball possibly; can't remember football for sure though. Anyway, basically its the same as the school year testing. Even if you're across the country, somebody meets you and tests you. If you don't show (at any test) it's an automatic fail. So what I'm getting at is the old summer cycles are not an option anymore. Really, if you're going to a school with a good program you don't need steroids to help you gain/lose whatever. There aren't a ton of AA programs like that but there are some. Anyway, if you're willing to deal w/ the age side effects stick w/ the short esters the summer before the first fall. After there isn't much difference in running a cycle mid season and in the summer.
Check the link below and you should be able to find a lot of the official info here:
http://www2.ncaa.org/portal/legislation_and_governance/eligibility_and_recruiting/drug_testing.html