Numbers indicate early December period turning into regular signing period for recruits
By Paul Harvey
Published:
It turns out a lot of recruits decided not to wait until February to sign their Letter of Intent.
There was a lot of speculation leading up to the first ever early signing period. Many analysts wondered how many players would sign in the early period while ESPN’s Greg McElroy estimated that approximately 80% of recruits would sign early.
The numbers have been sorted out now that the early period is closed, and it turns out McElroy wasn’t far off with his initial assessment. According to analyst Tom Luginbill, roughly 71% of the 2018 class signed during the early period.
The majority of the ESPN 300 recruits were also among those who signed in the period:
Final #EarlySigningPeriod numbers…
Total FBS signees – 2003
ESPN 300 signees- 216
FBS verbals that did not sign – 357 (excluding commitments to the military academies)
Roughly 71% of the 2018 class has signed.— Tom Luginbill 🇺🇸 🏈 (@TomLuginbill) December 23, 2017
It remains to be seen if this will be the long-term trend for the December period, but this year’s numbers definitely indicate that most recruits are treating the start of the early period as the new National Signing Day.
Paul Harvey lives in Atlanta and covers SEC football.
