Early signing period coming

Council also OKs schools hiring more asst. coaches

The NCAA is one step away from approving dramatic college football recruiting rule changes, including the addition of an early signing period in December.

The NCAA Division I Council on Friday approved the early signing period, one key piece of a comprehensive series of rule changes that will revamp the college recruiting calendar. The group also voted to allow schools to hire an additional assistant coach to help with recruiting duties and shut down controversial satellite camps.

The NCAA’s Board of Director, which asked the council to do a thorough review of all recruiting rules and propose changes, is expected to approve the plan next week in Indianapolis.

College football’s sole signing period currently begins the first Wednesday in February. Coaches and administrators across the country have long debated adding an early signing period to match other sports such as men’s basketball and lock in commitments from recruits before February of their senior years of high school.

While most coaches agree an early signing period could be beneficial, the timing of it has been a point of contention.

The American Football Coaches Association asked the NCAA to consider making the third Wednesday in December the start of an early signing period.

Some members of the coaching group, however, wanted to let players sign letters of intent that lock them into a school choice as early as the summer before their senior seasons.

Oregon’s Willie Taggart said the December date allows a recruit time to play his senior season.

“The summer before your senior year, I don’t think that’s fair to the kid or for the university and I don’t think they should do

that,” he said.

Coaches at smaller schools generally favor the early signing period, which they hope will help curtail the number of committed recruits who get poached by bigger programs the final week before National Signing Day in February.

“Bigger, top-10 schools, you don’t really want it,” FAU coach Lane Kiffin said. “Smaller schools, you want it. … So there’s a lot that goes in to it, but I’d be for it.”

But Tom Lemming, a recruiting analyst for CBS Sports Network, isn’t sure how well the mid-December date will work in the recruiting calendar.

“That’s not much time before the second signing day. It’s just less than two months before signing day,” Lemming said. “If it is in December, a good number of the kids are going to still want to visit other schools so the guys that may not have committed may want to visit other schools closer to the other signing day.

“It makes a lot more sense to do it in September rather than early December,” he added.

The early signing day would be added this year, if approved as expected.

The NCAA council also opted to add a 10th assistant coach starting in January 2018. Staffs have featured coaches for the nine position groups, but an additional staff member could help with recruiting or analysis.

Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said the extra coach is a necessity, especially with the growth of the game.

“In football, we have 120 guys and we have nine coaches, so your ratio in football is probably the worst of any sport that there is when you look at the major sports and really break it down,” Fisher said earlier this month. “The game has become so complicated and intricate in ways and we definitely need one.”

Fisher’s counterpart at Florida, Jim McElwain, agreed.

“We’re obviously 100 percent behind whatever we can do from that standpoint,” McElwain said earlier this month. “You think about it, your roster — we’ll travel 100 people, players down. And there are some sports that have one guy for every two people or maybe one of them. But here’s the one really good thing here. Obviously, [Athletics Director] Scott’s [Stricklin] allowing us as well, some of the off-field roles to be able to keep enhancing those to help you in that piece as well.”

Among some of the other proposals approved by the Council Friday:

A measure to allow official recruiting visits to begin April 1 of the junior year that ends on the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June of that same year.

A measure that prevents FBS schools from hiring people close to a recruit for a two-year period before and after the perspective athlete’s enrollment at the school.

A measure that limits FBS schools to signing 25 recruits to a National Letter of Intent.

A measure that limits FBS coaches to participating in camps or clinics to 10 days in June and July and requires that camps take place on a school’s campus or in a facility regularly used by the school for practice or competition. This change comes in the wake of controversial satellite camps used over the past couple of seasons by coaches like Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh.

“Today’s adoption of the football legislation marks the most significant progress in recent years to improve the football environment and culture for current and prospective studentathletes and coaches,” said NCAA Division I Council chairman Jim Phillips, Northwestern’s vice president of athletics and recreation. “Importantly, the action of the NCAA Division I Council delivers on the charge of the Division I Board of Directors to comprehensively improve the football recruiting environment. This affirms that the new Division I governance structure can effectively and timely address important issues.”

“It makes a lot more sense to do it in September rather than early December.” Tom Lemming, CBS Sports Network recruiting analyst