Get rid of early (Dec) signing period (and transfer window?)?

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What is "National decision day"?

College football allows players to sign binding NLI's in December. That is the whole point. There is no "first wed of Feb is the day" anymore.
 

Gophers_4life said:
What is "National decision day"?

College football allows players to sign binding NLI's in December. That is the whole point. There is no "first wed of Feb is the day" anymore.
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It used to be may 1 but I’m not sure anymore
 

Ooohhh, it has nothing to do with college sports. You're correct, it's May 1

Do You Have to Choose a College on Decision Day?​

For most U.S. colleges and universities, first-year applicants (who apply regular decision) must decide where to enroll by May 1. This means you can confirm your enrollment and submit your nonrefundable enrollment deposit anytime before this date.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Pretty simple to solve "hot boxing" - you can sign at any time during your senior season and once you sign, the 'cruit gets two weeks before it's final. They can back out anytime during that two-week period and be back into the recruiting process.
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Correct.
I’m still struggling to see why there is a signing period.
 

Gophers_4life said:
Ooohhh, it has nothing to do with college sports. You're correct, it's May 1

Do You Have to Choose a College on Decision Day?​

For most U.S. colleges and universities, first-year applicants (who apply regular decision) must decide where to enroll by May 1. This means you can confirm your enrollment and submit your nonrefundable enrollment deposit anytime before this date.
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You need to decide by May 1, not on May 1. And even that is for most, not all colleges.

Again this points to no signing day. If you want to commit and sign you should be able to whenever you want up to a certain cut off date.
 




Replacement Gopher said:
You need to decide by May 1, not on May 1. And even that is for most, not all colleges.

Again this points to no signing day. If you want to commit and sign you should be able to whenever you want up to a certain cut off date.
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We'd see coaches signing 8th graders and have lawsuits everywhere when either the student or coach changes their mind. We'd also see a transfer portal that dwarfs the current system. The earlier a high school kid commits to a college, the greater likelihood of that student either hating that college or not panning out as an athlete.

I think that later is better regarding signing dates.
 

Panthadad2 said:
We'd see coaches signing 8th graders and have lawsuits everywhere when either the student or coach changes their mind. We'd also see a transfer portal that dwarfs the current system. The earlier a high school kid commits to a college, the greater likelihood of that student either hating that college or not panning out as an athlete.

I think that later is better regarding signing dates.
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Easy fix. During your senior year. Say anytime between 9/1 and 5/1.
 




Replacement Gopher said:
You need to decide by May 1, not on May 1. And even that is for most, not all colleges.

Again this points to no signing day. If you want to commit and sign you should be able to whenever you want up to a certain cut off date.
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Yes
But I don’t think anything should be binding for the player until may 1
 

Panthadad2 said:
Then 9/1 turns into signing day for 90% of the athletes. It would just be an earlier signing period.
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Yes. In the era of sign now or we offer someone else…..the first day of any window is defacto national signing day.

This was always the case as people can sign after national signing day.
 

Panthadad2 said:
Then 9/1 turns into signing day for 90% of the athletes. It would just be an earlier signing period.
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If schools want to let kids sign and lock in that early, that seems like it would benefit the high school kid.

It appears waiting until after their senior season mainly helps the schools, mainly the blue bloods.
 



Replacement Gopher said:
If schools want to let kids sign and lock in that early, that seems like it would benefit the high school kid.

It appears waiting until after their senior season mainly helps the schools, mainly the blue bloods.
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Which high school kid?
Having early signing periods hurts as many kids as it helps. It helps kids that are already pegged as d1 is juniors, it hurts guys who still want a chance to prove it their senior years.
 

Replacement Gopher said:
Even non-athletes need to “sign”. You need to inform the school you plan on attending.
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How did they manage it when recruits wanted to enroll early (in Jan) back when there was no early signing period (signing day was usually the first Wed(?) in Feb)?
 

Panthadad2 said:
Then 9/1 turns into signing day for 90% of the athletes. It would just be an earlier signing period.
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Agree.

Seems like a tough issue to solve.

On one hand, like as said here, coaches are going to pressure recruits to sign as early as is allowed, and some will act ruthlessly (either by their nature and/or because they have to as they know their competition is doing it) about it.

On the other hand, it is a nice thing for kids who want to be done with it and know where they're going and legitimately "don't care" how a great senior season might open up other doors to better schools.


As has probably already been mentioned, that last bit could also work against the recruit. If they have a bad injury during the senior season, and haven't signed yet, there is nothing saying the school can't rescind the (verbal) offer.
 
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However, I have the least empathy for the coaches, and I don't care that much that a few handfuls of them are getting "crushed" in December. Somehow, they'll manage.
 

If the SEC doesn’t like the early signing period why don’t they just eliminated it for their own programs?
 

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