Not that it makes all that much difference, but can letters of intent be signed BEFORE "national signing day"?? I know JUCO's sign early--at least those that plan on enrolling in the Spring semesters, but what about the others? Is there a mandatory wait? Just curious.
Seems like if it were possible, coaches would push it & you would hear about it happening atleast some of the time, so I doubt it's possible - but ya never know.
They cannot...well they can be signed by anyone, anytime, technically, but they won't become 'binding' until they are accepted on NSD. They really aren't even binding, legally, even on NSD, but the schools of D1A all agree to abide by them so in effect they are.
An Alternative Many coaches, especially coordinators, change jobs after a signing class is delivered. Kids going to a school suddenly are committed to schools that they would not have gone to if they had known all the facts. One main reason Auburn was mad at Chizek was he left before signing day, and there was fear it would cost us recruits. The kids deserve better than that. It is amazing that more of the prime prospects don't use scholarship agreements rather than the LOI. In this day of easy information I am surprised this hasn't caught on. http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/6170293 What's laughable is it doesn't have to be that way. The coaches, the schools, the recruiting services and the fans have basically created national signing day. "That's funny you said that," said Eugene Byrd, director of the National Letter of Intent program. "There's even a place on our website where it says you don't have to sign a letter of intent, you can use this scholarship agreement." Administrators are amazed an alternative, the scholarship agreement, isn't utilized more. After the football signing period ends (this year it's April 1), a scholarship agreement is basically a yearly promise from a school it will provide X amount of books, board and tuition if a prospect comes to that school. Read between the lines. If Wednesday means tying yourself up to a school for four to five years, then the scholarship agreement means freedom. Even if the kid signs a scholarship agreement, he still can go to any school he wants before next fall without penalty
Re: An Alternative How would the coaches take to that though? Obviously they would much prefer LOI's.
Re: An Alternative Very interesting indeed. If I understand this correctly (which may be very doubtful), an athlete has less flexibility with a LOI than he does with a scholorship agreement because the LOI is more binding on him. If my understanding of this is right, I can certainly understand why the coaches do not say much about scholorship agreements.
