Why College Football Must Make an Early Signing Period

The creation of an early signing period for college football recruiting has been a topic that’s been thoroughly discussed in recent years, but there’s never been a significant push by the decision-makers in control of that process to make it a reality.

On Tuesday at the American Football Coaches Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, the most significant step to date was taken to establish a second signing date for prospective college football recruits, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Crabtree.

Crabtree reports that a committee created for the purpose of investigating the merits of an early signing period, which was formed by the Conference Commissioners Association in June, is leaning toward endorsing the addition of a signing period in mid-December.

That period is likely to coincide with the current midyear junior college transfer signing date.

While nailing down an exact date is something that will and should be debated, an early signing period is beneficial for both recruits and universities for a number of reasons.

For starters, the current recruiting model is hamstrung by archaic rules that fail to account for the changes that have occurred to the process in recent years—most notably the acceleration of the timeline between when prospects are offered and when they commit.

The early signing period would eliminate the clutter for recruits who have already made their decisions a long time ago.

A quick glance at the 247Sports Team Rankings for the 2015 cycle shows that 18 of the Top 25 schools have already secured at least 20 commitments—with the other seven programs having at least 15 pledges less than a month before signing day.

With so many recruits already committed, a midyear signing period allows those student-athletes the chance to enjoy the last moments on the prep level before heading off to college instead of stressing during the buildup to signing day.

Also, with a majority of schools already having classes that are close to being full, allowing recruits to sign early would also help programs save resources if they didn’t have to continue to aggressively recruit committed prospects for another two months.

Former Akron coach Rob Ianello told Crabtree that he likes the current proposal on the table and it’s something that the college coaching community has clamored about for quite some time.

“We'll have something that people can look at and examine the pluses and minuses and come up with some feedback on it,” Ianello said. “It's something a lot of coaches have wanted for six years. I like mid-December because it doesn't change the calendar and it allows kids some chances to take official visits in December before they would sign.”

Critics against an early signing period may argue that some of the luster normally reserved for the first Wednesday in February would be lost.

However, with the attention that has been generated from a fan perspective, recruiting is already a year-round industry regardless of when recruits announce their decisions. That factor is unlikely to change, especially in the case of highly rated prospects.

Regardless, the creation of an extra signing period is a positive step in helping to alleviate some of the issues that have plagued the recruiting process in recent years.

Sanjay Kirpalani is a national recruiting analyst for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow @SanjayKirpalani