College football’s experiment with an early signing period will happen this week. Prospects can sign binding letters of intent between Wednesday, Dec. 20 and Friday, Dec. 22, officially ending their recruiting process.

Naturally there are a lot of questions about the early signing period and many won’t be answered until everyone goes through the process. However, some questions can be answered, like these 10:

Why is there an early signing period?

Because folks at the NCAA figure that by mid December most prospects have been through enough of the recruiting process and have made up their mind about the next step. They have seen what they need to see in recruiting and are ready to enjoy a night without endless texts and phone calls.

What do players and coaches think?

Overall it seemed to be pretty well received by most parties, including players, college coaches and high school coaches … until Nick Saban spoke a couple of days ago. It’s easy to see Saban’s point because Alabama has done much of its major recruiting work in the final two or three weeks before the traditional signing day. One quote in particular stands out:

“I see more players getting pressured by some schools to sign early so that they don’t get an opportunity from maybe a bigger school later, which I don’t think is in the player’s best interest. Because a guy may have an opportunity to go to a place that he’s always wanted to go to, or an SEC school, and he’s getting pressured by somebody else to sign early.”

There definitely has been a push from programs to get verbally committed players to sign this week … and keep Alabama from trying to flip them. However the Crimson Tide did pull one from Miami on Sunday and he’ll be signing Wednesday.

How many players will take advantage?

South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said he expects around 10-12 players to sign with the Gamecocks this week. That’s about 50 percent of the class. LSU coach Ed Orgeron, originally not a fan of early signing day, could have as many as 20 players sign early and has now warmed up to the concept. So a good guess would be that at least 50 percent of a class will take advantage of the early signing and in some cases 75 percent or more of a program’s picks with sign this week.

Georgia quarterback commit Justin Fields said he is going to take advantage of the early signing period.

https://twitter.com/justnfields/status/942568655476461569

What about some other big names?

Well, 5-star wide receiver Terrace Marshall is going to sign Friday afternoon and will chose between Texas A&M and LSU. Georgia running back commit James Cook visited Florida State this past weekend and says he’ll sign early but did not say which day. 4-star quarterback Emory Jones, an Ohio State commit, visited Florida and FSU this weekend and says he’ll sign Wednesday before noon. And 4-star quarterback Matt Corral, who recently flipped to Ole Miss from Florida, will sign this week.

Which SEC schools are in a position to do well?

Again, South Carolina and LSU should do well early. Georgia should expect a ton of momentum with Fields officially in the fold. Vanderbilt should have a lot of prospects sign this week and that’s good for a program which often has other programs trying to poach its recruits. Mark Stoops says Kentucky should sign most of its class this week.

Which SEC schools are in limbo?

The programs that made coaching changes. Florida, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi State all bear watching because their head coaches have been on the job for two weeks or less. It’s a short period of time to evaluate the prospects currently committed to the program and see how they fit in with the new coach’s vision. There is also little time to visit those prospects or re-recruit them if necessary.

Will there be more changes to early signing period?

We’ll know more about the potential pitfalls after the final prospect has signed before midnight (Pacific Time) on Friday. Many coaches believe that the signing date will be moved up or there will be another signing period added around mid-October or earlier. Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher believes that there should be a late July-early August signing period.

Credit: C. Morgan Engel-USA TODAY Sports

Will this take the steam out of National Signing Day?

Absolutely. A lot of major prospects in this class will sign this week so there will be fewer hat ceremonies and other antics usually reserved for the traditional February signing day. Some programs are considering this period the signing day and they hope it’s the only one they will need. Of course some the top 100-200 players in this class will decide to wait because they have that leverage.

How could my team’s class change after this week?

It depends on who signs and who doesn’t. The belief is that most verbally committed prospects will receive a letter of intent to sign. The ones that don’t sign might not be solid commitments or might be on the outs. Also, some programs might not take signatures of prospects who are in academic limbo; then the question becomes: Will they risk holding a spot in the class for those prospects? A lot could change and there could be a second recruiting cycle within this period for verbally committed prospects who don’t sign.

Is ESPN doing a show for early signing period?

The TV listings show a National Signing Day show on ESPN at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Marshall’s commitment on Friday might also be televised on the network.