Early signing period
- By ITSC-Ret
- New Mexico High School Football
- 9 Replies
The early signing period presents recruits a moment to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak, and the ramifications of not doing so could be significant. Actions do speak louder than words, and for student athletes that have "committed", coaches are going to be expecting them to sign on the dotted line.
"With all our commitments, while we wanted them on board, it was, 'Hey, don't commit until you're ready, but if you commit, we want you committed,'" one Power 5 coach said. "I'd anticipate all the guys committed signing in December and rolling with it. And if they don't, that means they're not committed. I'm sure other schools are the same way. We feel confident it'll happen."
The likely scenario — again, all over the country — is that some players will withhold from signing in December and lose their scholarships at the school they committed to early. Another potential outcome here is for schools to be more likely to take on more water weight early - push for more early commits - knowing they'll sweat some of it in December.
And this will effect how schools handle official visits.
Several commitments have mentioned the likelihood that they'll be making their official visit during the weekend of Dec. 16-17. Most schools are expecting the majority of the class that weekend, putting those recruits on campus right before the signing date. An expectation, you'd think, would be made clear at that time, though coaches probably want to avoid being too heavy-handed.
This is going to be interesting to watch, for sure.