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NCAA committee moves forward with December early-signing proposal
The NCAA could be implementing an early-signing period for football recruits soon. But the signing period won’t be in June.
The Division I Football Oversight Committee is moving forward with a proposal that would open a 72-hour signing period for high school recruits in December. The timeframe would correspond with the current December signing time for junior college recruits.
But the committee isn’t recommending an early-signing time for recruits in June. Unlike basketball, there is not currently an opportunity for football recruits to sign early. The earliest a recruit can sign a letter of intent is on National Signing Day the first Wednesday in February.
“What we heard from the coaches at the American Football Coaches Association meetings that the June signing date was problematic,” Big 12 commissioner and committee chair Bob Bowlsby said in a statement. “We knew one of the charges to our committee was to open earlier access. We will continue to look for an earlier signing date than mid-December, but we will move ahead on the other parts of the process. This is a significant move forward in football recruiting. We think it is student-athlete-friendly, family-friendly and coach-friendly.”
The possibility of a June signing day seemed tenuous at best after the lack of support it received at the American Football Coaches Association meetings in Nashville last week. The AFCA said it unanimously supported a December signing date but there was no traction for a June committal time.
A June period could have allowed recruits to sign with a school before their senior seasons and provide an insurance plan of sorts in case of an injury over their final season. But, on the flip side, others feared recruits could skip their senior seasons with their college futures secure.
As part of the committee’s proposal, rules on official visits for recruits would also be modified. Recruits would be allowed to take official visits from April-June of their junior years, to months earlier than initially proposed.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!