Should NCAA consider moving football early signing period on calendar?

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Should NCAA consider moving football early signing period on calendar?

The coaching carousel has been spinning wildly for months, and it continues to spin heading into the early signing period.

Premier Power 4 programs such as LSU, Florida and Auburn made coaching hires on Nov. 30, just three days before the start of the early signing period (Dec. 3-5).

Other programs, including South Florida, which just lost head coach Alex Golesh, are scrambling to keep its recruiting class together after losing a coach just days before commits are set to sign.

All the coaches moves create a recruiting landscape where some high school student-athletes and college programs have less than 72 hours to make major decisions.

It begs the question, should the early signing period be moved back, or eliminated altogether?

USA TODAY Florida Network recruiting reporter Nick Wilson, Florida Gators beat reporter Kevin Brockway and UCF beat reporter Chris Boyle discussed the early signing period and if there's a better time to do it.

Does having the early signing period the first week in December make sense?

Boyle: I thought the whole point of this thing was to move it up so it didn't distract from the playoffs or bowl season. I don't know if moving it back to mid-December really accomplished much. If you want these guys enrolled for spring ball, you have to get everything done before January. They have to get enrolled as students right after New Year's rolls around. I don't know if there's really a better solution.

New Gators coach Jon Sumrall has to scramble to keep a recruiting class together. Would a delayed signing day make more sense?

Brockway: Sumerall said he was on a Zoom (on Nov. 30) with some of the Florida commitments, and even his own commitments at Tulane telling them, "Hey look, stay at Tulane. Give the next coach a shot." Because he wanted them to experience that. Talking to Scott Stricklin a little bit on the side after the press conference, his solution was get rid of December entirely. Go back to the old system. Go back to February. I don't know if the coaches would be down for that. I think they like the idea of having the spring period for developmental for early enrollees. We've seen a lot of early enrollees benefit from that as true freshman for sure. But maybe at the cost of these coaching changes, you go all the way to the old system and do away with freshman enroll early.

Is a 72-hour window enough time for a high school recruit to make a life-changing decision

Wilson: Certainly not, and the amount of money and the size of these decisions for these 16-, 17-, 18-year-olds and their family adds a whole other human element. I don't think schools are going to shell out the amount of money and then not get them in the spring. I just don't see them signing up for something like that. I think this is just the byproduct of an unsustainable ecosystem we've slowly built over the last couple years and now we've got to look in its ugly face.

Last year, UCF had to sign a class without a head coach. How did they do that?

Boyle: (Terry) Mohajir got involved last year. He was one of the guys that led the effort, along with the assistant coaches, to make sure they had anyone come through the door. They were able to get a few deals done, a few guys in. The fact that they were able to get anybody is a testament to the work those guys put in. Because there was a huge question of what kind of offense are we going to be in? What kind of defense are we going to have? Who's going to be the coaches in place here for these recruits to worry about? If there's communication, it has to come from the top down.

Are these quick timelines just the cost of business now in football recruiting?

Brockway: Take a look at what happened last December when you talk about business decisions. There used to be letters of intent, now they're called financial agreements. You take a look at Florida's best recruit from last year, Dallas Wilson, who originally had a financial agreement with Oregon, got out of it and ended up coming to Florida. We can see these things play out the entire month. And I think the loyalty aspect isn't as great as it's been in the past because of the money that's involved.

Would it be better in some cases for high school recruits to wait for February to sign?

Wilson: I think it really depends on the kid. If you're a top 100 kid in Florida and you know where you stand with the staff, go ahead and sign and get your foot in the door. On the opposite end of the spectrum, if you're not sure where you stand with the staff and you don't know what's going to happen — especially if it's a portal reliant team it just opens up so many cans of worms. Let's be clear, this is a blessing of a predicament to be in. Like 98 percent of high school football players would die to be in the position.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: NCAA early signing period, why it doesn't make sense in football

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