Early signing period approved by CCA
High school seniors can now sign football letters of intent in December in addition to the traditional signing period that starts the first Wednesday of February.
The Collegiate Commissioners Association on Monday announced its approval of the new signing period, the last step in the process of implementing a package of reforms passed by the NCAA in April.
The CCA administers the national letter of intent and therefore had final say on whether to adopt the early signing period. Approval was expected as some of the conference commissioners were also involved in crafting and pushing for the recruiting reforms.
College football’s first early signing period is scheduled for Dec. 20-22, 2017, coinciding with the first three days of the initial date of the football midyear junior college transfer NLI signing period.
The early letter-ofintent signing period is part of comprehensive legislation that also permits high school juniors to take official visits from April through June and imposes a two-year waiting period before FBS schools can hire people close to recruits to non-coaching positions.
The reforms also put restrictions on where and when Division I coaches can participate in summer camps and increases the number of on-field assistants in football from nine to 10, effective in January.
In February 2015, Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said: “I’ve said for years that we should sign July 1. These guys who want to commit in the spring, if they want to sign, sign them up July 1.
“Then we need to sign again in December and then we can sign in February, and that will eliminate a lot of this and it will also save money. Because the ones that are already signed, you don’t have to get in a car, you don’t have to get in an airplane, you don’t have to spend on a hotel, per diem — all the things that could help the budget of athletic departments. I’d be all for it.”
Last year, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops mentioned that he was in favor of adding an early signing period that coincided with junior college signing day.
Stoops mentioned his potential large group of early enrollees — which came to fruition — as one reason why.
“Why wouldn’t they be allowed to sign?” Stoops said then. “They ought to have an early day as well. There’s more and more kids that are leaving high school early after that first semester, so they ought to be able to have a signing day as well. To me, that would be ideal so you have all of fall to get three, four, five visits and you can still make a decision by Dec. 20 or whatever it may be.”
Last season, eventual five-star linebacker Jacob Phillips committed to Oklahoma in October but was courted hard by LSU in the weeks before February’s signing day and eventually flipped to the Tigers.
A few days later, Sooners defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said he was even more strongly in favor of the early signing period.
“I think it’s good for everybody,” he said. “Players don’t have to do it. If you’re not sure, then don’t sign. If you’re committed and want to sign, what wouldn’t you? It makes 100 percent sense in our eyes and I would think most coaches’.”