SEC’s weight tables college football early signing period decision until 2016

Written by Ryan Wright

 

The anticipation and drama that is National Signing Day for college football fans will remain intact for at least one more year after the Collegiate Commissioners Association decided to table a ruling on a proposed early signing period until 2016 Wednesday morning.

While the majority of conferences favored an early signing period that would allow a proposed 72-hour time frame for recruits to sign with a given school in the fall instead of waiting for the first Wednesday in February the Southeastern Conference opposed the plan per reports.

The initial proposal brought forward in January would have been a two-year trial run with a signing date starting on December 16. The vote was up to both Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conferences. The date of the early signing period was a back-and-forth debate with the ACC wanting an August signing period and the SEC openly preferring an after Thanksgiving date.

The pros and cons of an early signing period have riled staunch support on both sides of the debate. Those in support of an early signing period believes it would save time and money along with allowing signees in the early period to be free from recruiting phone calls, emails, letters, and text messages allowing said player to concentrate on being a student athlete once he has signed his letter of intent.

On the other side of the debate is the push forward on evaluating recruits earlier in the process and pushing recruits into making a decision before possibly being ready to make such an important decision.

Once the high school football season is completed many recruits use the time between December to the beginning of February to take unofficial and official visits to various campuses extending offers. Currently recruits cannot officially visit a school until their senior year begins. A signing period in August may force a change in when an official visit could be taken. A signing period in early December could force recruits to take trips to college campuses in the middle of their season potentially affecting play on the high school gridiron and work in the classroom.

Other issues hovering over recruiting includes scouting 7×7 tournaments, grayshirting, over signing, and one of the bigger debates in the offseason, satellite college camps extending across state borders.

All of the issues that could reshape the landscape of recruiting along with the rules and actions allowed by both program and recruit going forward are supposed to be reviewed by the Football Oversight Committee before conference commissioners meet again to discuss voting for or against an early signing period.

 

Photo credit: myfoxatlanta.com; 2015 National Signing Day logo.