SEC coaches supported the proposed early signing period for football unanimously at the 2014 spring meetings, but now the idea, which could go into effect in time for the 2016 class later this year if passed in June, is worrisome for several.

The Collegiate Commissioners Association will vote on adopting an early signing period this summer beginning Dec. 16 that could perhaps curtail incessant spending and useless visits to players during the recruiting season.

RELATED: SEC commish takes cautious approach on early signing period

Here’s what a few SEC coaches have said on the possibility of an early signing period next season:

Editor’s note: These quotes were gathered from transcripts of several press conferences and other media outlets in articles published this year and last including USA Today, AL.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Yahoo Sports, The Post and Courier and The Montgomery Advertiser.

Alabama’s Nick Saban

“I support something that doesn’t interfere with high school senior year and something that doesn’t change the recruiting sort of landscape where everybody wants to visit during the season because they want to sign Dec. 1. Because football is a developmental game, that a lot of high school coaches would be real pleased if we had a signing date before the senior season. So what we’ve always supported in the SEC is having an early signing date right at the end of the season, maybe Dec. 1 or something like that and to put some kind of stipulation in there that we wouldn’t want to encourage or enhance guys to want to everybody visit during the season because that’s tough on your own team that you’re trying to manage when you have 12-14 guys making official visits for games.”

Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen

“To me the early signing is designed for a guy who knows where they want to go to school. It alleviates the pressure for them to be able to sign, and all the other distractions in recruiting that come with it, and allow them to sign with that school and take all the other pressures off themselves.”

South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier

“I don’t particularly like it because I think we’re going to be recruiting during the season again. I think a lot of high school kids are going to have their name in the paper every week about what school they are going to pick instead of the newspapers writing about the players on our current team right now. And I’ve always felt like during the season, that time should belong to the players on your team. Then there is time for recruiting before and after the season. But I think they are going to go ahead and pass it (the early signing period).”

Florida’s Jim McElwain

“Well, it’s one of those deals that as long as everybody is working under the same guidelines, (we’ll deal with it). I think there’s a lot of merit to it. At times, the things that happen to you with a lot of kids, they want to go to a place, so let’s get it over with (and sign early). I think it will really help in the long run, yet part of what happens is going to be tough. Think about us, coming in late (this year after being hired at Florida), how hard that would’ve been for us to get an opportunity to recruit some of these guys (if there was an early signing period). I think it’s one of those things that is needed, but I’m not sure any of us know the ramifications will be once it goes down.”

Tennessee’s Butch Jones

“I’m very, very supportive of the SEC’s version of the early signing date (which was for the first Monday after Thanksgiving). I think it protects the young man, and I think it helps the institution as well. And I think it really helps sort through the commitments, and makes the institution accountable. But it also makes the young man accountable. What it does is that helps you understand and evaluate – is that commitment true? I really do like the SEC’s version. I think it was very, very well-thought out. I think it’s very healthy for college football. It allows you to sign him in early December if he has not taken an official visit. So if we have an individual who has grown up loving Tennessee and he wants to sign early, that’s great. Then he will be able to have his official visit once he signs.”

Arkansas’ Bret Bielema

“I love the early signing period just for two reasons. First, it allows the kid who wants to come and be somewhere to go ahead and sign. It can really be a cost-effective measure that you don’t have to keep recruiting him in December and January. You know, (with the way we do it now) you’re just kind of babysitting him, even though you know he’s coming. You’re just worried that somebody else is working him. I think it’s going to save a tremendous amount of time and dollars for coaches. And then the second thing, and it makes the most sense, it clears up the recruiting process for the people who want to get it cleared up. I think there are too many times where there’s so much time in there, some doubt can begin to creep into those minds of kids where they have been 100-percent committed for so long … and it gets a kid in a bad situation, and just leads to confusion. I think that part is real.”

Mississippi’s Hugh Freeze

“I’m not for the December early signing period. I think that’s a bad idea. I’ve been very vocal about that. The high school coaches are going to hate us. Kids are going to go on four or five visits during the season. They’re going to come back on late Sunday night, and be awful for their high school team because all of us are going to try to lock them up in the early signing period now. I wish that if a kid commits to us, and we’re truly committed to him, I’d like to send him the papers right then. And you will find out who is really committed on both sides. I would say start this in August of his senior year. If a kid is committed to you, you can send them the papers to sign. You will find out really quickly which schools are committed to which kids, and which schools are committed to which kids. We’ll stop all the shenanigans about the lack of commitment, and what commitment really means. If we can’t have that, we need to have an August signing period because the high school coaches would support that. The kid has the scholarship, it’s his hands, he knows where he is going, and he can play his heart out for his high school and not have to worry about (all the recruiting).”

Georgia’s Mark Richt

“I don’t know about an early signing period. I just don’t know how that would affect our recruiting calendar. I think there are always unintended consequences when you change rules — or if you make a new one. And I think it’s just the uncertainty of what it would do to that recruiting calendar, as far as speeding things up even more than how they are today.”