National Signing Day in December?
It’s a definite possibility.
Soon, college football fans may know their respective program’s incoming signing class by Christmas without having to anxiously wait until the new year — and cycle through bowl games — during the high-anxiety home stretch of flips and decommitments.
According to Susan Peal, the NCAA associate director of operations and liaison between the NCAA and commissioners, the committee will likely recommend moving up NSD to the middle of December, around the same time JUCO players can first sign, at today’s American Football Coaches Association convention in Louisville:
This quote from Peal was pulled directly from today’s report by Jeremy Crabtree of ESPN:
“Based on all of the feedback — and there are all kinds of dates out there of what people want — the most favorable option the committee has seen seems to be for an early signing day in December, something that’s in line with the midyear junior college transfer signing date,” Peal said.
“I’m not saying that’s the only option out there, but it is the most favorable. The reason I’m saying that period is the most favorable is that coaches like their recruiting calendar. They like all the work that has been done so far by every subcommittee to get the recruiting calendar to where it is today, and they don’t want to mess with that. A December date would have the most minimal impact to that recruiting calendar, so that’s why that has been the one date that has come out.”
The CCA is made up of 32 Division I conference commissioners chaired by Mid-American Conference commissioner Jon Steinbrecher. Switching NSD has been a hot topic for years but really picked up steam over the course of last season.
During the ‘recruiting era’, National Signing Day has always come on the first Wednesday in February and is, by far, the most exciting day of the offseason for fans.
At least three Power 5 Conferences — ACC, Big Ten and SEC — have all supported an earlier signing date, but with varying months. Several steps have to go into motion before NSD is officially altered as early as 2016 including a final vote among conference commissioners in June if progress is made with coaches during spring meetings.
