Early signing periods are on the table for the Division 1 Football Oversight Committee, and it clearly has its share of supporters. Among them is Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh, who has shown he is willing and able to do just about anything and everything in order to create an edge on the recruiting trail.
“I’d be in the category for it,” Harbaugh said during the Big Ten’s weekly coaches conference call. “I feel like, if somebody wants to sign an agreement, they should be able to sign before the first Wednesday of February. I feel like we haven’t changed in so long. It’s been the same antiquated system for 30-40 years and, obviously, as people make their decisions earlier, they should have the ability to sign that agreement.”
As previously reported, the committee has proposed a plan that would add two 72-hour early signing periods prior to the traditional National Signing Day. The first early signing period would be over the summer, in late June. The other would be in the middle of December at the same time junior college transfers are able to sign letters of intent with Division 1 programs.
Perhaps fittingly, one of the chief critics of an early signing period juts so happens to be Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer. Talk about red states and blue states in college football, right? Is there anything these two coaches agree on? No? OK then.
If approved, the proposal would go into effect starting with the 2017-18 signing year, which means high school recruits could feasibly be starting to sign with their preferred colleges this coming June.