College football early signing period is recommended

For nearly a decade, there has been a quiet push from college football coaches to create an early recruiting signing period. Now there is a formal recommendation to do just that.

Jon Steinbrecher, commissioner of the Mid-American Conference and the chair of a subcommittee of the Collegiate Commissioner's Association, told USA TODAY Sports his working group is finalizing a recommendation to make Dec. 16, 2015, the start of an early signing period for football prospects

The recommendation, first reported by CBSSports.com, is being put out for conferences to discuss this spring. It could go to a vote of the CCA, which administers the National Letter of Intent program, this summer.

If the recommendation is adopted, the high school class of 2016 could be the first to have an early football signing period, Steinbrecher said.

Every NCAA sport except football, soccer and water polo already has an early signing period. Football's signing period begins the first Wednesday of February each year, and that date would remain. Steinbrecher said there has been a groundswell from college football coaches to allow prospects to not have to wait until February if the player's mind is made up.

"If you look at the information," Steinbrecher said, "what you see is a large segment of prospects commit in the summer before or during the season, and ultimately 90% sign with the institution they commit to. Why aren't we facilitating a signing period for it?"

The subcommittee also looked at dates in early August, September and after Thanksgiving but chose the Dec. 16 date and the ensuing 72 hours because it matches the signing period for mid-year junior college transfers. The recommended early signing period is intended to fit the current NCAA recruiting schedule.

"There is no recommendation coming forward from this working group back to the NCAA Council to alter the recruiting calendar," Steinbrecher said.

Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt, a member of the CCA subcommittee and chair of the NCAA's football recruiting subcommittee, said there has been "zero interest" from coaches in starting the overall football recruiting process — the moment when schools can first contact prospects — any earlier than it already does.

The NCAA subcommittee, which is holding a conference call Tuesday, is discussing three other matters related to college football recruiting: whether to allow college football coaches to text message prospects (a practice that is currently prohibited), whether to allow schools to bring prospects' parents or legal guardians on official visits and pay their expenses, and whether to change the spring evaluation period into a spring contact period. Changing to a contact period would allow coaches to interact with prospects on the prospects' high school campuses and eliminate the issue of "impermissible bumps".

"We recognize those occur, and moving to a contact period would go a long way toward leveling the playing field," Hocutt said.

The NCAA subcommittee will gather final input and data from spring conference meetings to help decide on a formal recommendation to the new Division I Council this summer.