A dding an early signing period for college football would be advantageous for the NCAA and UNC.
The Conference Commissioners Association, which controls the letter of intent program, will meet to discuss this potential change in June.
As of now, football has a single spring signing period, while basketball and many other sports have an early signing period in the fall, accompanied by the traditional spring period.
The modern football recruiting landscape is an unmitigated mess, with recruits often verbally committing to one school early in order to reserve their spot, only to continue to visit schools and flip their commitment in the days leading up to signing day.
Because of this recruiting culture, commitments are considered to be soft until signing day, so many programs have to waste valuable resources continuing to recruit their verbal commits as rival schools try to win them over.
An early signing period would help push recruits to be sure of their school choice before making a commitment. It would also curb the surprise signing day commitment flips that leave programs lacking at positions that they believed to be covered.
UNC has experienced both sides of the coin in the loose commitment culture. Running back Giovanni Bernard first committed to Notre Dame before de-committing and coming to UNC, while Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson initially committed to UNC.
Football recruiting begins earlier in players’ high school careers every year, and recruits are gaming the system now more than ever.
It’s time to clean up the flawed recruiting scene, and an early signing period is a step in the right direction.
