Are swirling in college and prep football. The topic- early signing date.
If you are a recruited high school student athlete, a college coach can offer you a scholarship at the start of your junior year. Football is the only sport where that commitment is verbal for 18 months! The rules say you can't sign with a school until February of your senior year. Why is this creating problems? Like you would expect from 16 and 17-year-old teenagers, many are changing their minds, verbally committing to a school their junior year, only to sign with another when it is time to put pen to paper.
You can imagine this is not sitting well with college coaches.
A recent poll in the the Daily Oklahoman said most Division 1 college football coaches favor moving the early prep football signing period up, to sometime during a prospects senior year.
Two Big Ten coaches voted against changing the date, including Illinois head coach Ron Zook. A lightening rod for controversy since he took over Illinois, Zook has consistently landed top recruting classes since he arrived in Champaign 4 years ago. Illinois fans believe Zook has done it by sheer force of personality and hard work.
Others are not so sure.
It's not surprising someone accused of questionable recruiting tactics would be in favor of the status quo. This gives the coach of an opposing team more time to recruit a player, even after he has verbally committed to a school, in hopes of convicing that player to change allegiances.
The topic is is bringing out spirited debates amongst high school and college coaches. Thoughts on this blog are welcome.
SHOULD THE NCAA MOVE UP THE SIGNING PERIOD FOR PREP FOOTBALL?
Keywords: Big Ten, Daily Oklahoman, Illinois, NCAA, prep football, Ron Zook, scholarship, signing period, student athlete
