The NCAA’s new mid-December early signing period (coming Dec. 20!) was always going to be bad for a large percentage of players and puzzling for coaches, at least the first time around. An overlooked factor: Plopping it right in the middle of bowl season means some schools feel much more of an impact than others.
The NCAA’s new early signing period makes life even harder for teams in pre-Christmas bowl games
Do teams in New Year’s games really need yet another advantage over teams playing in lesser bowls?
From a Spokesman-Review story on Washington State’s dual scramble to sign the majority of its 2018 class — typically a January job — and prepare for its Dec. 28 Holiday Bowl:
“You should have a better idea of what exactly your needs are after the 20th,” outside linebackers coach Roy Manning said. “… I don’t know if it’s an advantage over another team, but it definitely is an advantage in-house to know where you stand and it’s on these kids to make a decision and kind of figure out where they’re going.”
A late bowl game inherently gives the Cougars some advantages over other programs, including one in the same division of their own Pac-12 Conference. Oregon accepted an invite to the Dec. 16 Vegas Bowl, so the Ducks had to put many of their recruiting plans on hold. That included telling a group of recruits who’d planned on making official visits to Eugene this weekend that they’d have to reschedule.
A bowl in the middle of the month also detracts from the number of in-home visits a program can make. The Cougars were probably allotted two additional weeks on the recruiting trail by getting a post-Christmas bowl.
The new period ends Dec. 22, meaning teams in pre-Christmas bowls will likely be the ones most hampered. Every year, those teams will almost exclusively be non-power teams and Power 5 stragglers, including at least a couple that are replacing head coaches. (This year, one Power 5 straggler happens to be an Oregon team with a chance at signing a top-10 class, a factor in the Ducks promoting Mario Cristobal as head coach. Cristobal said before the Las Vegas Bowl that the game’s exposure made up for most of the added calendar challenge.)
So whereas most other big-money sports rig their talent onboarding processes in favor of weaker teams, college football’s process now tilts even more in favor of teams that are already good.
So let’s check in on the ultimate Team That Is Already Good to see if the idea’s at least popular there!
“I don’t think it’s in the players’ best interest,” Nick Saban said. “I don’t see how it benefits anybody. I think it’s really stressful for everyone. We’re all trying to get ready for bowl games and playoff games and we have a signing day right in the middle of when we’re going to be practicing for a playoff game.
“It was very stressful for a lot of coaches to get out and see as many guys as they could in December and accelerate everything. You don’t have very much time to do that. If you’re playing in a championship game, you have even less time to do it.”
Alabama had an extra week since it didn’t play in a fourth straight SEC Championship Game on Dec. 2.
“Maybe I shouldn’t be speaking like this,” Saban said. “I have not talked to a coach that’s happy with it.”
SB Nation’s Bud Elliott has often argued in favor of a summer signing period but only if players are allowed to take their official visits much earlier in the year. In the new system, with coaches expecting almost every player to sign in December, players now have to cram in those visits during or immediately after high school football season.
Either way, the NCAA’s got some tweaking to do. Recruiting isn’t and shouldn’t be a talent equalizer at the team level, but the recruiting calendar also shouldn’t punish teams that happen to be in pre-Christmas bowls.
