Survey: Recruits hold varying opinions about early signing period
There has been plenty of talk from both college coaches and the media about the proposed additional signing period that could take effect as early as this December. But in all the discussion about how it might help prospects or change the recruiting process, we’ve heard very little from the players themselves.
Rivals.com caught up with several prospects over the past few weeks to their thoughts on the topic.
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“I really don’t like it because it makes you speed your process up instead of taking your time and selecting a school that you really want to attend.”
“I may be wrong, but I don't like it. It's too fast. We should take our time instead of doing it early. Nowadays the coaches are moving fast so we should take our time and keep looking into it more.”
“It’s something I would want to do, especially if I can enroll early. Just to get a head start on football and academics.”
“Even if it does come in I will probably wait until the later Signing Day. It’s more of a traditional thing and it’s a big thing for my family, so I think I’ll just wait and enjoy everything and wait it all out.”
"At first I thought it would be a good thing because it would take the pressure off early dealing with your commitment, but as I learned this year coaches get fired or move and they seem to wait to make these moves after or near the signing period. My fear would be they would get their class to sign and then the coach would get fired or move. Overall I like that you commit early but not sign early unless they put something saying if you sign and the head coach is fired or moves on then the LOI is void."
“I heard a little bit about it but not too much. For me I think it’s a good thing because I’m not the type of guy that’s going to want to wait until the last minute. I mean, probably by December I’ll be waiting to sign already because I don’t want to wait until past my senior football season. I’ve seen other guys I know get stressed at the end, but I just don’t want to wait and stress; I just want to be locked in during my senior season.”
"I think it's unnecessary just because everyone has a signing day now and there's no reason to put another one earlier. If you early enroll then I guess you could use that signing day, but if you aren't going to early enroll then it's pointless. I think it would just be easier to stick to one signing day. But I don't know, I'm not really concerned about the whole thing."
“I like that because I will want to enroll early anyway so I can get to the school I want early and start working out. You get to be on campus early and that helps. My uncle (Demetris Robertson) waited way past Signing Day to decide, but I just would like to have the option to sign early because I think it can only help.”
“I don't like that idea, too many things could go wrong in the matter of two months. College coaches get fired and moved around like it's nothing. I do prefer the idea on allowing us to take official visits during the summer, though.”
“I feel that if you’re 100 percent committed and not looking anywhere else that December would be a great time to sign and be done with it. But if they are trying to make it where you have to sign in December it's a bad idea. Many recruits build relationships with coaches and some decommit if their coach is fired, so if they had it where you could sign if you’re ready in December and wait if you’re not for February great. But moving it to December and only December is a terrible idea.”
“I think it's an interesting idea, but if your coach leaves then you're locked in. But that can also happen even if you sign normally. I don't really see the point of signing early. Might as well wait another month.”
