Quote Originally Posted by Irondawg View Post
I get your point that it has to start "somewhere" but here's my point. I think if you had rule where at any point after the 1st day of their senior year of HS a kid could officially sign it would ease the craziness. Only because I think a ton of kids wouldn't sign and schools wouldn't want to fill their class their early without watching senior tape and risk of injury. The December date eases some of the issues with the Feburary date but has caused some other issues.

I just think there is a better way for all involved than trying to pin down two dates and then anytime after the Feb date. Because yes, some kids wait but its very few
If you push back to the 1st day of their senior year, it would ease the craziness in some ways, but increase it in others. You'd have lots of schools wanting to push for a commitment earlier and making a bird in the hand type arguments. To the extent signing classes didn't largely fill up in September, you'd have recruits pressured every time they take a visit to sign on the dotted line. Game theory would all of the sudden be extremely important for those players who are borderline offers for the schools they want or who think they can play their way up the board their senior year. What about the senior who has a committable offer to Memphis, but is being kept warm by MSU. He now has to try to forecast Memphis's willingness to take another player at his position and that players willingness to commit, or else maybe he ends up at Memphis.

The two separate signing dates creates a cluster 17 as far as the coaching carousel goes, but I do think over time it will maximize the "match" between schools and players. Players will get an early, strong indication of whether they really have an offer from a school or are being kept warm. There's a few days for people to play musical chairs, and then they have a couple of months to work on contingency plans if things don't work out in the early signing period. Schools will also have an early indication of who is actually committed, and likewise will have a couple of months to work on contingency plans if they get surprised.