early signing day

[huskerfan500]

just wandering if any one knows how close they are to getting an early signing day for football, a lot of coaches have been pushing for this for a couple of years and they were thinking of changing it but it might take a couple of years

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Nothing yet. But this was interesting from the Independent:

 

Callahan favors early signing day

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about this past Wednesday's national college football signing day was the reaction Bill Callahan had to a pair of four-star players who had given the Nebraska coach their verbal commitments, but then shied away from their pledges and go elsewhere.

 

Unlike Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis and others who were stung by signing day surprises, Callahan didn't lash out at the youngsters for changing their mind. In fact, Callahan appeared -- at least outwardly -- remarkably composed about the late developments, saying that it's essentially become part of the recruiting game.

 

"I'm more pleased with the guys that are committed, that do make that commitment to come here and want to be a part of this than I am for the very few that elect to make a late, 11th-hour decision and go elsewhere, and I respect that," Callahan said. "I understand that's a part of the game in this day and age."

 

After defensive back David Ross signed with Oregon State and Travis Lewis inked with Oklahoma, Callahan admitted that Nebraska then attempted to go after some last-minute replacements. Presumably, most of those targets were already verbally committed to other schools.

 

"It's hard to turn guys late and come back in on guys when they are essentially committed or connected into a particular university," Callahan said. "It's crazy. Recruiting's crazy this day and age, I have to tell you that. It's getting crazier."

 

All told, Nebraska wound up losing eight players who had given the Huskers a verbal commitment at one time or another during the recruiting process. That figure appears to be on par with the national average as Rivals.com recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree said he saw more players de-commit and go elsewhere on signing day than at any point in the past 10 years.

 

With that in mind, Callahan is one of the many proponents of an early signing day for college football that would occur sometime in the fall, rather than the traditional letter-of-intent day in early February. The early signing date would figure to help the Huskers strike while the iron is still hot and lock up recruits while they are still riding the high of the game-day experience at Memorial Stadium.

 

"I'm hopeful that the NCAA looks at an early signing date, especially here for us at Nebraska. That would be a great advantage," Callahan said. "If they could ever get the early signing date for a high school player, boy, we'd be enthralled with that because a lot of our visits occur during the in-season and as we all know, it is tough -- and is getting tougher -- to hold a commitment from day one all the way to Feb. 7."

 

As it stands, Nebraska's coaches have to keep the fire of interest glowing for a little more than two months after the prospective recruits come to Lincoln. In that time, there are plenty of opportunities for a player's feelings to cool and his mind to change -- especially with the urging of other coaches recruiting against the Huskers' staff.

 

"(Recruiting) is becoming more difficult, more demanding and I just believe as a coach you want to be a little clearer in terms of commitment when they come to your school," Callahan said. "When they make that commitment to your school, you want an opportunity to sign them up if they're that excited about it instead of waiting for an extended period of time.

 

"I think it will happen because of the way the process has been accelerated. I think the day's coming where we're going to see that."

[Hunter94]

it is the same for every school, the playing field is level, if we have to rely mainly on the excitement of the gameday experience to ink a kid, then we are missing something else in the recruiting process. hype is just hype, all "glitz and glamore", but shouldn't we have more important things to "sell" besides that aspect as a primary attractor?

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

But should the coaches constantly have to be "selling" these kids for 18 to 24 months? There is nothing wrong with two signing dates in the year. Nearly every other NCAA sport has the two dates. If they can sign some players during the early period that would free up those resources and efforts then they could narrow the focus to completing the class with the later signing period. It would also definately lower the stress level some for the coaches.

[husker rob]

it would take a lot of pressure off of the coaching staff because after the players sign he would be hands off from other schools. with the way it is now, it seems that once a kid commits to one school then the other schools go after him full force. negitive recruiting is getting pretty bad

[Blackshirt316]

I think its definitely needed. not only from the coaches perspective but from the athlete's perspective as well. Most recruits who verbal early do so to try to avoid the drawn out recruiting process in an attempt to focus on their senior year of High School without a lot of distractions. Which is almost impossible for them to do now because as soon as they give their verbal commitment they are bombarded with even more attention from other schools. An early signing day would allow the athletes that haven't made a decision to still go through the normal recruiting program, but give those who have the freedom to get their college selection over with and focus on their last year of High School.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

[Hunter94]

maybe it should move the other direction, with no contact allowed by coaches/programs until a later date? say Sept. 1st? 2 signing deadlines would not be that beneficial, as most kids would favor the latest date so they COULD change their minds and keep their options open. let's face it a verbal doesn't mean sh#t anymore. if you get a great kid to commit early the coaches still have to stay on him so as not to lose him to another program, it makes no sense and doesn't obviously make him a lock.

[huskerfan500]

it is the same for every school, the playing field is level, if we have to rely mainly on the excitement of the gameday experience to ink a kid, then we are missing something else in the recruiting process. hype is just hype, all "glitz and glamore", but shouldn't we have more important things to "sell" besides that aspect as a primary attractor?

 

its not really the same if look at our school, 4 loses (I believe), 0 gains do the math

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

maybe it should move the other direction, with no contact allowed by coaches/programs until a later date? say Sept. 1st? 2 signing deadlines would not be that beneficial, as most kids would favor the latest date so they COULD change their minds and keep their options open. let's face it a verbal doesn't mean sh#t anymore. if you get a great kid to commit early the coaches still have to stay on him so as not to lose him to another program, it makes no sense and doesn't obviously make him a lock.

Nope.

[huskerfan500]

maybe it should move the other direction, with no contact allowed by coaches/programs until a later date? say Sept. 1st? 2 signing deadlines would not be that beneficial, as most kids would favor the latest date so they COULD change their minds and keep their options open. let's face it a verbal doesn't mean sh#t anymore. if you get a great kid to commit early the coaches still have to stay on him so as not to lose him to another program, it makes no sense and doesn't obviously make him a lock.

Nope.

 

that rule be pointless, with the technology there is no silent period no matter what the rules are, you can believe what you want but there are few people if any that actually follow that any more

[huskerfan500]

here is more from rivals

 

http://collegefootball.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=674594