The NCAA and the Conference Commissioners Association are considering adopting an early signing period for college football to go along with the traditional period that begins in early February, according to comments from Susan Peal, NCAA associate director of operations, to ESPN.com – a move that if ever enacted would have a major impact on the sport’s recruiting.
“I think everyone wants an early signing period,” Peal said. “It’s just trying to nail down what’s the appropriate date for that.”
The CCA will meet in June to review an agenda that includes an early signing period, ESPN reported, and Peal believes “there’s more momentum now than ever just because of the changes that are happening with recruiting regulations,” including the new ability of prospects to sign early enrollment paperwork – not a binding national letter of intent – as early as August of their senior year.
She said most of the disagreement about college teams about an early signing period revolves around the actual date it would occur, not whether or not there should be one.
An early period would have a dramatic impact on the football recruiting landscape, where unlike most other sports, schools fervently continue to recruit prospects who have already verbally committed to other colleges.
An early signing period would presumably benefit non-powerhouse programs because it would allow teams to lock up verbal commitments early in the process with letters of intent before other teams jump in during or after their senior seasons to steal them away.
Had there been an early signing period, the University of Kentucky, for instance, probably would have ended up with offensive lineman Derrick Kelly, who committed to UK as an unheralded prospect last summer, but wound up signing with Florida State after several major teams offered him scholarships in November, December and January.
The University of Louisville, similarly, might have likely ended up with highly regarded safety Marques Gayot, who flipped his pledge to Miami in mid-December after being committed to U of L for six months.
On the flip side, UK wouldn’t have probably landed three-star offensive tackle Josh Krok, who became a major target after Kelly decommitted, because he verbally committed to West Virginia last June and may have signed with the Mountaineers during a hypothetical early period.
And as for U of L, the Cards might not have ever ended up with tight end Charles Standberry, who verbally committed to Ole Miss last June.
Powerhouse programs, meanwhile, probably benefit most from the current system because it allows them to target recruits committed elsewhere until the last minute. (Even so, those top programs steal recruits from each other, too, so they could benefit from a early signing period, too.)
An early signing period could protect verbally committed athletes, too, who without one risk having their scholarship offers pulled late in the process by schools after a college coaching change, an injury or maybe just because they didn’t perform well on the field or in the classroom during their senior year.
Had there been an early signing period, U of L very possibly could have ended up with players such as Nilijah Ballew, Daniel Gresham and T.J. Foster, who were committed to former coach Charlie Strong for months but were encouraged to look elsewhere after Bobby Petrino was hired to replace him. Maybe even former U of L commitments like Jared McCray and Jeff Williams, who had their scholarship offers withdrawn by Strong while he was still the coach, would have been allowed to sign during an early period.
Of course, early U of L commitments like Isaiah Ford, Kavaris Harkless, Desean Blair, George Rushing and Poona Ford – all of whom wound up other places after the coaching change despite Petrino’s efforts to keep them – might have signed with U of L, too, while Strong was still the coach, and it would have been up to U of L whether to release them from their letters of intent.
Another impact: colleges would have to allocate less time and money during the winter in recruiting players who already are signed and locked in to go to their schools.
So clearly, an early signing period could have had a vast impact on hundreds of players around the country, and it’ll be a major development if one is enacted the way there is for football.
