NCAA Eyes Early Signing Period

SidewalkJacket

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Of course this will help GT... for awhile. Our coaches do an admirable job of identifying talent early on. Also, we have the added pressure of making sure we go after strong "student"-athletes. A lot of times the academic aptitude shows up early in high school. Therefore we can go all out for those good student athletes before they sometimes "blow up" on the field during their senior season. This should also cut down on some of the poaching that goes on. I'm sure it will take a couple years, but the factories with near unlimited recruiting capabilities will still find a way to make the system benefit them. But its a start.
 

awbuzz

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Would cut down a lot of the poaching and would "force the hand" of recruits to make sure they are not locked out of a school.
 

Rodney Kent

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In my view, it is a no-brainer to have an early signing date. Also, to me, preferably it would be at the end of the High School team's last game, and prior to the play-offs. It would be detrimental to the schools who cheat by waiting until the February date to make an underhanded material offer to bribe a kid away from a shool for material gain. This would then do away with the domino effect of all the way down to the smaller schools.

The coaches would still be able to recruit those who have not signed after that date. The end of the regular season would give the coaches the full year to evaluate those players who were not considered at the beginning of the year and to solidify their evaluations of the offers given prior to the end of the school year. A coach might talk with a player who was highly rated during a preseason camp, but did not prove out during the year. He might have other players he is going to sign that have a better chance of succeeding at the D1 level. If so, he could talk with the previous player and be honest with him about his chances. The player might want to still come to the school, he might want to sign with a smaller school, or sign somewhere else he could get playing time.

Personally, I think the early signing period proposal is long overdue.
 

gtg936g

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In my view, it is a no-brainer to have an early signing date. Also, to me, preferably it would be at the end of the High School team's last game, and prior to the play-offs. It would be detrimental to the schools who cheat by waiting until the February date to make an underhanded material offer to bribe a kid away from a shool for material gain. This would then do away with the domino effect of all the way down to the smaller schools.

The coaches would still be able to recruit those who have not signed after that date. The end of the regular season would give the coaches the full year to evaluate those players who were not considered at the beginning of the year and to solidify their evaluations of the offers given prior to the end of the school year. A coach might talk with a player who was highly rated during a preseason camp, but did not prove out during the year. He might have other players he is going to sign that have a better chance of succeeding at the D1 level. If so, he could talk with the previous player and be honest with him about his chances. The player might want to still come to the school, he might want to sign with a smaller school, or sign somewhere else he could get playing time.

Personally, I think the early signing period proposal is long overdue.

I completely agree.
 

GTJason

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Not only the benefits of keeping our players, but the factory schools will likely fill up fast with early commits. If those early commits get injured or something they won't be able to grey shirt the player which will hopefully level the playing field until they find a loophole. I also think we get an advantage with the guys who wait too long and their "dream school" fills up.
 

Boomergump

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Think about how many really good players don't reach their potential until their senior season. With an early signing period, many of those guys will still be left after the dream schools are full with early signees. Gotta be a good thing for TECH all the way around. Less poaching etc too.
 

TheSilasSonRising

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Could see a definite benefit for GT, but can see it helping a lot of schools as well.

If it saves money, might gain lots of support.

Wonder if a kid decides he made a mistake, could he sit out a year, go to a JC / Prep school and then sign with another school?

This year was our best year in quite a while as regards losing commits, so we shall see.

Regardless, we need to do better.
 

GTRanj

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"On top of that -- and I'll be honest here, which is rare for a football coach in a setting like this -- but we have a lot of kids that don't know if they're going to get into school until after that early signing day," Shaw said. "So we're going to punish the academic schools just because coaches don't want a kid to switch their commitment?"

This is interesting to me, didn't really think about this as it does apply to Tech. What do you guys think?

http://espn.go.com/college-football...david-shaw-strongly-opposed-early-signing-day
 

bat_082994

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"On top of that -- and I'll be honest here, which is rare for a football coach in a setting like this -- but we have a lot of kids that don't know if they're going to get into school until after that early signing day," Shaw said. "So we're going to punish the academic schools just because coaches don't want a kid to switch their commitment?"

This is interesting to me, didn't really think about this as it does apply to Tech. What do you guys think?

http://espn.go.com/college-football...david-shaw-strongly-opposed-early-signing-day
I would say that if there is a chance that they might not qualify academically, then they should wait until the second signing day.
 

augustabuzz

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"On top of that -- and I'll be honest here, which is rare for a football coach in a setting like this -- but we have a lot of kids that don't know if they're going to get into school until after that early signing day," Shaw said. "So we're going to punish the academic schools just because coaches don't want a kid to switch their commitment?"

This is interesting to me, didn't really think about this as it does apply to Tech. What do you guys think?

http://espn.go.com/college-football...david-shaw-strongly-opposed-early-signing-day
I have long thought that some of this is marketing by Stanford.
 

GTNavyNuke

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"On top of that -- and I'll be honest here, which is rare for a football coach in a setting like this -- but we have a lot of kids that don't know if they're going to get into school until after that early signing day," Shaw said. "So we're going to punish the academic schools just because coaches don't want a kid to switch their commitment?"

This is interesting to me, didn't really think about this as it does apply to Tech. What do you guys think?

http://espn.go.com/college-football...david-shaw-strongly-opposed-early-signing-day

Does anyone know why it takes Stanford so long to decide on admissions? Or are we this way too? I know we have early admissions but have forgotten the date of our general admissions announcement.
 

AE 87

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Does anyone know why it takes Stanford so long to decide on admissions? Or are we this way too? I know we have early admissions but have forgotten the date of our general admissions announcement.
Stanford admissions are more subjective.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Gotta love or hate CPJ's bluntness ....... "..... it would be a whole lot less expensive than trying to babysit them for three months.”

I am very blunt in most situations. The ones where I have to be political, I can be obtuse and correct. But I prefer bluntness. If someone were paying me $2.5M, I'd be a lot more correct though. One thing I admire about CPJ is he is his own person and not hypocritical, but that is what rubs a lot of people the wrong way.

In any event, little surprise here, CPJ has always been in favor of early signing. What was most interesting was CPJ's statement that " I think if you look at the schools, and it doesn’t matter who the coach is — it doesn’t change much,” Johnson said. “The schools kind of recruit who they are going to recruit. It doesn’t change a whole lot. If you go back and look at the schools." This statement is supported by statistical studies that were posted on GTSports about two years ago. It's certainly been true for us.
 

GTRanj

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Does anyone know why it takes Stanford so long to decide on admissions? Or are we this way too? I know we have early admissions but have forgotten the date of our general admissions announcement.
This was my question as well but it seems to be answered with the lifting of the 20% rule
 

Rodney Kent

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I have read some of the remarks by various coaches regarding some proposed signing dates. In my first reply on this topic, I liked a signing date after the regular season was over in the Senior year. After reading the coaches proposals, I liked one of the proposals, and that was for two signing dates. One was before the Senior season started and the second was after the regular season. Personally, I like this idea better.

Many of the players have been long time fans of certain teams and have been offered by those teams. It appears to me to be a good proposal to have the first signing date before the Senior season for all those who are certain of their school and do not want to be bothered by recruiters while playing their Senior year. This would lock in those who are certain and free them to concentrate on the football season without the hassle of recruiters. The players can also concentrate on their studies without the interference of recruiters. They would also be locked into a college education if they were injured during the football season.

Those who are not certain remain on the board for the recruiters until after the regular High School season. Both the schools and the athletes should have made up their minds by then. There will always be surprised during the season where some players emerge strongly during the season. It is a win-win for both the coaches and athletes. With the regular season over, the coaches can then concentrate on watching their players in the play-offs to see how they might use them the next year, or their prospect for early playing time. The coaches can then go back and work on their plans for next year's spring practice.
 

CuseJacket

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More opinions from Kevin Sumlin, Jimbo Fisher, Brian Kelly, Hugh Freeze, Butch Jones, Al Golden, and CPJ
http://recruiting.blog.ajc.com/2014...ll-have-an-early-signing-period-yet-we-asked/

Texas A&M’s Kevin Sumlin: “I think the coaches keep bringing it up every year. Somewhere it dies after it leaves the coaches. I’ll just put it that way … I don’t understand it either. I’ve sat in many of those meetings. We leave with the coaches vote (in favor of it), and then it just dies and goes away later on. I don’t know what happens.”
 
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