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This week I continue my 10 part piece on things I would like to see changed in college football. For reference, here are the previous articles:
Conference Affiliation of Officials
For this installment, I am going to tackle an early signing period for recruits.
Background:
Currently, prospective college football players can sign their National Letter of Intent (LOI) starting the first Wednesday of February and have until May 31st to do so. That Wednesday has become an unofficial holiday for college football fanatics and is commonly referred to as National Signing Day (NSD). This is the only signing period allowed for football (outside of the Junior College transfers in December/January).
Basketball has had an early signing period in November (prior to most high school seasons starting) for about three decades. The rule was primarily instituted to allow players a chance to enjoy their senior year without the constant barrage of phone calls from recruiters.
For reference, here are the signing periods for NCAA sports for 2012-13:
|
Sport |
Initial Signing Date |
Final Signing Date |
|
Basketball (Early Period) |
November 14, 2012 |
November 21, 2012 |
|
Basketball (Regular Period) |
April 17, 2013 |
May 15, 2013 |
|
Football (Midyear JC Transfer) |
December 19, 2012 |
January 15, 2013 |
|
Football (Regular Period) |
February 6, 2013 |
April 1, 2013 |
|
Field Hockey, Soccer, Track and Field, Cross Country, Men's Water Polo |
February 6, 2013 |
August 1, 2013 |
|
All Other Sports (Early Period) |
November 14, 2012 |
November 21, 2012 |
|
All Other Sports (Regular Period) |
April 17, 2013 |
August 1, 2013 |
Changes:
There have been discussions, proposals and a general call-to-arms by the media for instituting an early signing period for college football over the past few years.
Quite simply, the NCAA needs to institute an early signing period for college football.
I propose that the early signing period begins with the first Wednesday in August and runs through the second Wednesday in August. This timing allows players to sign prior to most (if not all) high school seasons starting.
The way I see it, it allows for a few great benefits to players including allowing the players to avoid 6 months of recruiting harassment from coaches (not to mention media and fans) and ensures their offer will not be pulled due to injury. An early signing period would also help to curb the oversigning/grey-shirting epidemic that is so prevalent in today's game.
In order to make the early signing period effective, the NCAA will have to allow official visits during a recruit's junior year of high school but still only be allowed 5 total. If a recruit uses one official visit as a Junior and signs during the early period, they should then be allowed to take one additional official visit to the school they signed with during their senior year. Currently, recruits are only allowed to visit an institution once.
By instituting an early signing period like basketball already enjoys, the NCAA could actually help its future student athletes. There is simply no compelling reason not to have one other than many coaches are against the idea.
Related Reading:
NCAA's release on football recruiting and recruiting in general
Yahoo's breakdown of recruiting rules
National Letter of Intent Website
Active.com's Guide to College Football Recruiting
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