(01-14-2013 12:19 PM)cinbinsportsfan Wrote: (01-14-2013 03:12 AM)Bearhawkeye Wrote: I mentioned it already. A school with a coach that stays can get an early formal commit which includes the rules against poaching by other schools. They don't have to worry about other schools sweeping in any more on those commits. If a kid signs early, he's hands off to other schools - no phone calls, no visits, etc. Big help in focusing resources towards the late signing period. Great for the (non-poaching) school and coach who stays at his school.
To this point I agree it reassures the school that that players who "claim" they are committed to the school and "close their recruitment" once they gave the verbal will actually go to the school. But many times coaches understand the level of commitment of their prospects. For example, Patrick Coyne probably wouldn't have been swayed from his commitment to Cincinnati and probably would have signed during the early signing period. In essence the UC coaches could have thought of his "verbal" as 100% solid and he would be a lock to sign his LOI during NSD in February regardless.
Well nothing is 100%. We've had several players claim/appear to be 100% only to change their mind. Others might not have changed their mind, but required a lot of hand-holding throughout the process especially near the end. This would prevent that for those that sign early and allow for better utilization of resources.
Quote:However for a player like Dennis Norfleet his verbal was as soft as a verbal could be and he probably wouldn't have signed during the early signing period. But coaches knew that he was waiting for the Michigan offer (which came) and they knew he would be gone if it occurred. So they likely did not allocate a ton of their resources to him anyways.
I'm not claiming this solves everything. But it can give the school some insight into how committed "committed" is. If a "committed" kid doesn't want to sign early that might tell you something. It also gives leverage, for example:
1) Tell 3 RB we have one early period RB slot open - first to commit (and follow through with an early period signing) gets it. After that we'll see what happens.
2) Make your own contingent offer: e.g. this offer is good through the early signing period only. If you don't accept it and sign early, we're still potentially interested, but just like you have chosen, we are also going to be looking around and thus won't be able to accept a verbal commit (and thus hold an unofficial spot for you) until we know more closer to the late signing period.
Using your example and assuming it be accurate, maybe one of the above would have been done with Norfleet. Maybe he signs early, maybe he doesn't. At least UC knows more about where it stands. If he doesn't, UC can legitimately refuse the verbal and try to find somebody better from the high ground. Then still potentially offer him as it gets closer to the late signing period. Or not.
Quote:Quote:For the kid, he knows he has a guaranteed spot. He also avoids the hassle of all the unwanted contact after his commitment. If there is a head coaching change, he can either keep his guaranteed spot or choose to rescind and go back to the market after meeting the new coach. Unless he plays it wrong, he doesn't have to worry about being left out in the cold after a coaching change, but also isn't locked into a coach/system he doesn't want to play for.
This makes perfect sense and would be the biggest advantage of an early signing day; giving the recruits the assurance that their scholarship would be honored. It would be interesting to see how this would affect the coaching carousel because the "signed prospects" would probably play somewhat of a factor in what they were getting themselves into and just how they could compile their first class, which sets the tone for the team itself and future classes.
Again off the top of my head, for kids it might also apply to injuries although the details could get complicated and would have to be worked out (e.g. sign early and get injured - you still keep your scholly or some variation of it, etc.).
For potential new coaches, early period signees would be a consideration (both pro and/or con) but probably wouldn't be the deciding factor for any job. As long as they know the situation going into it, I don't see a problem.
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