🏈 Committee suggests December signing frame

[TerryP]

Just saw a note on Twitter referencing an article he's put up.

Someone care to find some stuff on this? I'm mobile...

 

[sean]

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

The committee tasked to study an early signing period for football has recommended a 72-hour December window in which prospects could make official their commitments to colleges seven weeks before the traditional date, starting this year for the recruiting class of 2016.

Big Ten associate commissioner Chad Hawley confirmed the news, first reported Monday by CBS Sports, to ESPN.com. Hawley is a member of the committee assigned by the Conference Commissioners Association -- which administers the national letter of intent -- to study the program.

ESPN.com reported last week at the AFCA convention that the committee was leaning toward the December recommendation.

The early signing period, if approved by the conference commissioners this spring, would be installed on a two-year trial basis, Hawley said. It would open in conjunction with the mid-year, junior-college date, set in 2015 for Dec. 16.

The February signing period would remain, and the early period would not otherwise impact the current recruiting calendar.

The conference commissioners have considered an early signing period for years as the recruiting process accelerated, with major programs commonly offering scholarships to prospects in their freshman and sophomore years of high school.

A 2013 interpretation that allowed early graduating seniors to sign financial-aid paperwork on Aug. 1, binding colleges to the prospects, further provided momentum for an early period.

A signing date in December stands to save many hours and thousands of dollars for programs that won't have to invest resources in continuing to recruit long-committed prospects in January.

From ESPNU—Continue reading...

 

[bamafan4ever]

This would be an excellent development in my opinion.

 

[TerryP]

This would be an excellent development in my opinion.

It seems like this has come up in SEC meetings...maybe a preliminary vote at the AFCA's? There's numbers and dates out there that have been explored before.

 

[TerryP]

This is a recap of discussion from last spring/early summer on the early signing date:

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In an offseason rich with hot topics, the ACC on Thursday proposed an early signing period for football.

Commissioner John Swofford told reporters they will suggest it starts Aug. 1.

Alabama coach Nick Saban likes the idea of a secondary outlet for recruits, just not that early in the game.

"Because football is a developmental game, that a lot of high school coaches would be real pleased if we had a signing date before the senior season," Saban said Thursday before the Nashville stop of the Crimson Caravan. "So what we've always supported in the SEC is having an early signing date right at the end of the season, maybe Dec. 1 or something like that and to put some kind of stipulation in there that we wouldn't want to encourage or enhance guys to want to everybody visit during the season because that's tough on your own team that you're trying to manage when you have 12-14 guys making official visits for games."

Swofford said their Aug. 1 proposal would be a good thing for the recruits.

"Our feeling is that it would be a healthy thing for the recruits...the student-athletes in a sense that it would give them an opportunity to make their decision and fully commit to it and sign and be able to play and study during their senior season without the distraction of the recruiting process, which can be very significant," Swofford told reporters, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Other sports like basketball have two signing periods. Recruits can sign in November during the early period or April in the regular one.

"I support something that doesn't interfere with high school senior year and something that doesn't change the recruiting sort of landscape where everybody wants to visit during the season because they want to sign Dec. 1," Saban said.

 

[psychojoe]

I have thought for a good while that an early signing period for football would be a good idea. To me the proposed dates are too close to the actual signing date, but it would improve the existing situation. I would rather see a period before their senior season began, much like basketball does. A noteworthy objection to this would be that if a kid signed in August and the coach he anticipated playing for moved on, the player would still be stuck there. I know that in theory a prospect signs with a school, not a coach, but that is not the case in a large number of situations.

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

By Kevin Scarbinsky | kscarbinsky@al.com

Said it before, and today's a good day to say it again. If an early signing period happens in college football, and it doesn't include an out clause if your coach leaves after you sign, what's the point?

Look at Thursday's latest spins on the coaching carousel.

Central Michigan head coach Dan Enos left to become the Arkansas offensive coordinator. That's right. He left for a lesser job in a better league. It's the modern equivalent of the old Ole Miss head basketball coach who was "promoted" to assistant football coach.

Enos wasn't alone in making a move less than two weeks before National Signing Day. Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian reportedly has left the Vols after eight years working for Butch Jones at three different schools.

Depending on which report you read, Bajakian will become the quarterbacks coach of the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucs or a candidate for the Central Michigan head coaching job.

It's late in the process, but at least recruits who were committed to Enos and Central Michigan or Bajakian and Tennessee have a little bit of time to reassess their commitments before Feb. 4.

That might not be the case if the early signing period recommended for approval by the Collegiate Commissioners Association were already in place. The CCA will vote in June on a recommendation to have a 72-hour signing period in mid-December that coincides with the junior college signing period.

An early signing period is a good idea, and July/August would be even better than December. It would allow recruits to finalize their decisions and end the recruiting process if they're sure, and it would allow coaches to stop babysitting prospects that have been committed for months or even years.

Put the early period in the summer, and high school players could spend their senior years focusing on, well, their senior years. College coaches could spend more time coaching their teams and less time chasing or coddling prospects during the season.

But for any early signing period to keep the best interests of the student-athletes at heart, it has to include an out clause. If you sign early and your head coach, position coach or primary recruiter leaves for any reason before the February signing period, you should be allowed to sign with another school without penalty.

Don't give me the tired argument that you're supposed to sign with a school, not a coach. The football building doesn't visit you at your home and your high school. The weight room doesn't call you and reach out to you on social media. The study hall doesn't make a personal connection with you.

Coaches do that.

So if you sign with dear old State U., and the coach who convinced you to sign leaves, you should be given the chance to change your mind, too. Any early signing period that doesn't offer that option doesn't really care about the student-athlete.

Recruits committed to Central Michigan and Tennessee may not feel so lucky today, but they should consider the silver lining in the less-than-ideal timing. Enos and Bajakian could've left two weeks from today. Then where would those recruits be?

Continue reading...