Not in effect yet, but could happen. Big deal.
http://nebraska.247sports.com/Bolt/NCAA-approves-early-football-signing-period-52302688
http://nebraska.247sports.com/Bolt/NCAA-approves-early-football-signing-period-52302688
Early Signing Period Possible
- Thread starter TheBeav815
- Start date
Reading these stories over the years and seeing this debated from different coaches in different situations it seems like everyone wants a change....everyone knows that a change is needed......but nobody is ready for it at all because they have spent sooooo much money and energy in the current system....a system they know....a system that they have practiced..... and they know the results they can expect. Nobody is willing to risk the unknown and get left behind if they can't figure the new thing out. So they have just stayed with the same thing all these years out of that fear.
I guess that is one way to look at it, however it is not what I've seen at all. What I've seen is the NCAA try to implement rules (before this) to attempt to slow down the ever speeding up recruiting process. And the rules they implemented didn't change a thing. To me this rule, along with the new rule (also just passed the first stage of approvals) to allow juniors to take officials in the spring, is the NCAA adapting to what was already happening - the schools themselves were a huge player in the recruiting shift even if they pretended they weren't for it. If there was a fear it was admitting that it is more about the business than the best interest of the kids. But in terms of change...well they already had so little adaptation will be needed.
With that said, I do think the new rules will have some effect. When it comes to the spring official visits it will highly benefit schools that have to recruit nationally and don't have a ton of local talent (do you know any schools that fit that description?). I think the early signing period will mostly benefit second tier recruiters so they don't get kids poached (by bigger programs) at the end. But overall, I don't think either will have a massive effect because they are really just rules that are allowing schools to continue down a path they were already heading.
I feel like the early signing period and some of the new rules will just put a bigger emphasis on recruiting juniors and sophomores. Essentially pushing the big recruiting fights on to younger players a bit earlier. Most are already being recruited...but it will intensify.
I don't think the early signing period will change it much for two reasons:
1) The timing of it...it is a mid December early signing period...meaning a month and a half before the current signing period. It will certainly have an effect on kids flipping late but it probably won't influence kids to verbal before their senior season.
2) More importantly I think we are already at the point were schools are HEAVILY recruiting sophs and juniors...heck, some kids are being recruited as,early as 7th and 8th grade.
I think the bigger development is the spring officials and I see it as a positive. Because we are already there (kids being recruited early) it gives more kids an opportunity to see schools before they tire of the process and feel pressure to commit early like what is happening now. There is a school of thought that if a program hasn't forged a solid relationship with a player by the spring of his junior year then you are out of it already (meaning the kids with dozens of offers...sleepers and late bloomers are a different story).