Early Signing Day Period Moving To The First Week Of December? Finally, The NCAA Might Get Something Right!

College football coaches could receive a nice gift when it comes to the recruiting calendar and the transfer portal. 

The recruiting calendar is already a massive talking point around the sport, given that it falls late in December, while the transfer portal period is already ongoing. Now, it sounds as if leaders of the sport have finally taken the advice of its coaches and are looking for a way to move up early signing day in college football. 

At the moment, December is a cluster for coaches. Whether it's finishing the season, participating in the College Football Playoff or working the transfer portal, the month has become a massive problem that has now come to a boiling point. 

Don't forget that coaches are switching jobs, getting fired or at the very least having to bundle the high school signing period with the ongoing transfer portal. So, we've seen numerous coaches come out and declare that something needed to be done about how they attack the busiest time of the season. 

Thankfully, some conferences have taken the opportunity to try and install changes to the recruiting calendar. It was reported by ‘The Athletic’ that the current early signing period will most likely be moved up to the first week of December, which is also conference championship week. This would give coaches enough time to sign their high school class, then deal with the mass infusion of players hitting the transfer portal. 

Right now, we are seeing both periods run into each other, causing friction and problems with schools putting together a roster. Now, with the opportunity to move this date up, to either the regular three days, or potentially a full week, this will prevent an overlapping situation that has caused headaches for coaches around the country. 

During an SEC head coaches meeting last week in Birmingham, the idea was discussed and deliberated, without much resistance from the administrative team or coaches in the league. 

NASHVILLE - Greg Sankey the Commissioner of the SEC.  (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

One of the bigger problems we are seeing right now centers around teams participating in the college football playoff. While preparing for a game, teams also have to finish their recruiting cycles, while at the same time recruit players that have entered the portal. This nightmare scenario is one of the reasons why conferences around the country are trying to fix the problem before we move into a playoff format. 

Greg Sankey spoke with Yahoo Sports on Thursday night in Charlotte, where the SEC commissioner said that the current model no longer works. 

"Putting signing day in the middle of December with playoff games no longer works.  Move it to early December, the Wednesday before championship games," Sankey noted to Yahoo. "That is the concept. It’s, in part, out of respect to high school football. You’ve heard some want the signing day in June. No one has done any work on what that means for high school football. We have a responsibility to listen to the high school coaches. What we’ve heard out of the Texas group is that they do not at all support that. Everybody has to be attentive to that."

Another Signing Period In The Summer Would Cause Massive Headaches

I understand that this idea has been floated around the college football coaching circle over the past few years, but the hurdles could be difficult to navigate. Let's say that the NCAA decided to have a period in August before high school football begins, and a player decides he wants to shut down his recruitment and sign with a school. 

What happens when that player has a major setback during his senior season and coaches start to cool-off on him playing for their school the next season? What if a player suffers an injury that keeps him from competing, or it happens late in the season? How about that five-star player that wouldn't give you any attention before the signing period starts to return some phone calls or makes a decision to come to campus for a visit. 

There are so many different variables that could turn off the heat from a school, or the player themselves. The school would then have to go through the process of releasing a player from his National Letter Of Intent, and then that player would have to start his recruiting activities once again. 

Tony Petitti, the Big Ten's commissioner, speaks at football media days in Indianapolis last July. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)

Just as much as some of these prospects like to toy with schools, college football coaches are notorious for backing out at the last minute or yanking an offer. So what good would it do for that player to sign with a school in August, if the 17 or 18-year-old kid is going to regret his decision?

There are enough negative factors that could possibly outweigh the positives of another early signing period. Let's not forget that February used to be the mecca of high school recruiting, but has now just turned into another month on the calendar. 

If the sport can take the step to move the first signing period to the beginning of December, maybe that should be enough for now. We already have a big enough problem with the transfer portal, along with the extended 30-day windows that are given when a head coach is fired or resigns. 

I know everything is moving pretty fast in college athletics, with the new 12-team playoff set to begin this season. But we couldn't go a full year before starting to find ways to expand it to 14-teams, so maybe trying to fix everything at once isn't the smartest move. 

But as for the early signing period in December, that's one area of college football that should be accelerated before all of these coaches start losing their minds.