🏈 Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey remains critical of early signing period

[BAMANEWSBOT]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey has been on the losing end of the argument against an early football signing period.

He joins some of the league's coaches who don't think it's a change for the better.

The new recruiting rules will be among the topics for coaches and administrators at spring meetings next week in Destin, Florida. Other issues include collaborative instant replay in men's basketball and graduate transfer policies.

If Sankey wasn't alone among conference commissioners and others opposing the new December signing period , he understood quickly that he was in the minority.

"I'm not a singular voice," Sankey said recently in an interview with The Associated Press. "I've probably been more specific with my concerns. There are very vocal advocates. I knew my first meeting as commissioner that the majority of conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision wanted to see an early signing day.

"I still don't think that's best."

SEC coaches like Alabama's Nick Saban and LSU's Ed Orgeron expressed concerns about the early signing period (Dec. 20-22 this year). Others had reservations about the change allowing early visits.

Now high school juniors can take official visits from April through June. FBS schools face a two-year waiting period before they can hire people close to recruits to non-coaching positions.

Sankey readily lists some of his issues with having high school players able to sign in December. He wrote an analysis on the subject in 2006.

He believes it furthers the gap between athletes and other students in how early some will make their college decisions. They'll also potentially have that signing period looming while their high school teams are still in the playoffs.

The SEC typically doesn't let its football teams play on Friday nights, when most high school games are played, though Mississippi State did play at BYU last October.

"I think the early signing date has an impact on high school football," Sankey said. "I think moving the recruiting calendar has an impact on high school football. I think we all have to be concerned about football and its strength and health at every level.

"Whether it's a minority voice or a singular voice, I think those are important issues to consider."

He also said with some teams playing in December bowls and conference championship games, it limits time for in-person contacts before the signing. Sankey said it stands "in contrast to the universal long-term message about wanting to get to know student-athletes better before making what is almost a four-year commitment to them."

While the recruiting reforms have dominated the headlines, here are some other topics Sankey expects at the spring meetings:

—Collaborative instant replay. A centralized league office to review some plays drew mostly favorable reviews last season in football. Now, Sankey expects it to be used in league men's basketball games during the 2017-18 season.

That would take the place of officials huddling around a small TV monitor at courtside.

"It just doesn't seem the healthiest way," Sankey said. "There's a replay, they stop, walk over. Can they move that along more quickly? Can they identify the correct outcome in a more efficient way?"

The SEC has brought in athletic directors and others to try to make quick review decisions of non-league football games during the offseason to give them a better idea of the challenges.

—Sankey said talk about graduate transfer policies will come from outside and within the league. Last season, Alabama defensive back Maurice Smith wanted to transfer to Georgia. He was ultimately released from his scholarship in August and granted a waiver from the SEC.

The SEC has mostly required players transferring into the league to have two years of eligibility remaining, with some exceptions like Florida basketball player Canyon Barry.

"This will be the first meaningful conversation that we've had since the proliferation of graduate transfers has happened nationally," Sankey said. "I expect our membership to have a pretty meaningful conversation about the right perspective on graduate transfers entering the SEC from outside and then the topic of inter-conference transfers."

Sankey believes the SEC can find a way to allow more graduate transfers and barring a team from signing another one for a period of time if a transfer doesn't complete their academic requirements.

"A football player that enrolls as a graduate student and never goes to class, that's not healthy," Sankey said. "We want to tend more toward our Canyon Barrys."

 

[TUSKtimes]

The problem with early signing period from Sankey's perspective is that his argument should transfer to basketball and yet it doesn't. If recruits can come in and be evaluated earlier on official visits it just starts the clock a little faster.

Unlike basketball, the gap between signing periods is only a month and a half, not a year. Recognizing that maturing physically is a little different in football, plenty of diamonds in the rough should be seen by the staff. Schools are on these kids so early as it is. We read about recruits taking a ton of unofficial visits to a particular school for years and end up signing elsewhere. December signing period will remove a lot of the clutter.

As long as the Feb signing period stays intact, there will be plenty of recruits to evaluate, slow play, and put the full court press on during cherry picking season.

 

[alagator]

The problem with early signing period from Sankey's perspective is that his argument should transfer to basketball and yet it doesn't. If recruits can come in and be evaluated earlier on official visits it just starts the clock a little faster.

It shouldn't be equal to basketball because we're talking about two different scenarios.

Recruits are evaluated on official visits as it is; that's limited to camps when it comes to football.
Head coaches in basketball can attend off-season workouts. They can't in football. A basketball coach can attend a AAU function and get a good idea how well a kid can play. A football coach won't learn much of anything if they attend a seven-on-seven camp IF they are allowed to attend the camp in the first place.
A kid signing in November in basketball isn't during the middle of his season. It is in football.

We're literally talking apples and oranges between the two sports which is why there are different rules for recruiting in the two sports.

 

[TUSKtimes]

It shouldn't be equal to basketball because we're talking about two different scenarios.

Recruits are evaluated on official visits as it is; that's limited to camps when it comes to football.
Head coaches in basketball can attend off-season workouts. They can't in football. A basketball coach can attend a AAU function and get a good idea how well a kid can play. A football coach won't learn much of anything if they attend a seven-on-seven camp IF they are allowed to attend the camp in the first place.
A kid signing in November in basketball isn't during the middle of his season. It is in football.

We're literally talking apples and oranges between the two sports which is why there are different rules for recruiting in the two sports.

Well, it looks like the rules are a changing, fast. It got voted in because it made more sense than not.

How many football "camps" are recruits attending after the December signing period? Hay is in the barn with most of our recruits at that point. The recruits can go on officials their junior year from April to June. By December most offers have gone out and a lot of recruits have verbally committed to their favorite team, some recruits have known for over a year. The only thing left is to consummate the deal.

The end result of the early signing period will free up a ton of time the coaches use to keep committed players committed. The staff obviously won't have to worry about going after someone who has already signed elsewhere, so that time and expense is also eliminated. If recruits have any doubts, they don't have to sign early. If the staff has doubts they don't have to accept their signature, they can even ask the recruit to wait for the February signing period to see how things play out. It's a system that needs tweaking and the future is now.