Eventually an early signing period will happen in college football. Maybe.

Coaches seem to be for and against an early signing period (as long as it benefits them). Recruits seem to be for and against it (as long as they can get out of the early signing if necessary).

There are pros and cons to it, just like anything else regarding college football recruiting. Last year MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher proposed a 72-hour early signing period around the middle of December and right before the dead period.

The SEC appeared to be lined up as opposition along with the Big Ten and eventually a vote was delayed. I don’t believe it would have passed because no one is sure that they want it.

Some of the cons for an early signing day are as follows:

They don’t really benefit most Power 5 schools

The age-old tradition of Power 5 schools raiding mid-majors to fill holes for their respective recruiting classes in the final days before National Signing Day will be severely hampered by a signing day before the dead period.

The early offers are already ridiculous

Eighth- and ninth-grade football players probably shouldn’t be getting offered by major college football programs, but it’s happened. It’s a bad precedent and it doesn’t benefit a young, developing player to have to deal with that sort of pressure early in their high school careers.

There’s no good time to early sign

My opinion is early signing day should come before Thanksgiving. Some say mid-December. Some say the summer time. As long as no one can agree, the debate will rage on.

However, there are some positives to an early signing day:

It could curb “uncommitable” offers

Nationally-prominent programs love offering recruits to scare other teams away, but they aren’t necessarily ready to accept a verbal commitment. Not without seeing the recruit at camp or evaluating more game film or waiting to see where other targets commit first. My belief is don’t offer a recruit if you aren’t ready to take the commitment.

Earlier official visits

An early signing period would change the overall calendar, and prospective senior recruits would be able to take official visits before their high school year starts. An ideal starting point would be between mid-July and Aug. 1. This could benefit programs as well because they have more flexibility to take visitors during the week or on weekends. It would also allow for much longer official visits and more opportunities for a recruit’s family to attend those visits.

It would protect recruits and coaches

How often have we seen a young prospect commit to a program early and completely shut down his recruitment only for the program to pull their scholarship offer in the final week(s) before signing day?

But if the same program decides to tell the long-time recruit they aren’t going to accept them as an early signee, that recruit would know where he stands in the class. Neither scenario is comfortable to think about, but at least with an early signing period there would be time for the recruit to regroup and restart the process.

Bottom line …

Early signing will come up for a vote again, possibly this summer. When it does, it will likely pass as long as the people in support of it spent the past 12 months listening to the concerns and making necessary adjustments.

Coaches have had more than enough time to prepare for the possibility of this happening. I would predict we’ll see early signing in some form by the 2017-18 recruiting cycle.