When it comes to a proposed early signing period, let no one say Corch’s heart isn’t in the right place.
“I hear the reasoning is because there’s so many de-commitments,” Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said in September about early signing periods before the Division I Council passed the oversight committee’s proposal in early October. “So because 17-year-olds are de-commiting, let’s give them a legal document so they can’t de-commit. That’s not very smart. Young people have a right to choose where they want to go to school. Period. Let them de-commit 100 times.”
Urbs may have heard that reasoning, but apparently he hasn’t heard the facts.
De-commitments and flip-flopping by highly touted recruits gets a lot of attention, but it is still relatively uncommon. The survey showed 82 percent of football signees verbally committed prior to signing. Of those, 90 percent signed where they committed.
Pesky things, those facts.
Of 55 NCAA sports, football is one of four that does not have an early signing period.
According to the NCAA, 25,316 Division I student-athletes signed a national letter of intent in 2015-16. Of those, 18,103 had the opportunity to sign early and about 66 percent did.
“Why are we treating football players different from all the other students that come to us?” Eichorst said. “There’s no good answer for that.”
Good question, but I’ve got a better one. If the NCAA is so concerned about transparency, why not give kids and their parents the right to consult with a legal advisor before signing a national letter of intent, so they might have the opportunity to know what they’re getting into before they sign?
Hey, maybe you can have too much transparency. Eh, maybe Corch and Saban are playing bad cop to the NCAA’s good cop here. I mean, let’s not forget this little drop: “And what we constantly hear from our coaches and others is often times I spend more time recruiting my next class than coaching my current.”
Then again, maybe it’s just about protecting the lazier recruiters.
Get The Picture 
Corch being against the early signing period is just one more good reason to get behind this change.
Who ever said an athlete, or their family, could not consult an attorney before signing?
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The NCAA.
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That’s incredible. If the NCAA prevents an athlete from signing with a school just because they consulted with an attorney, it would seem the outcry would be a PR nightmare. If you’re saying the contract is non-negotiable, I’m sure that’s true, but to simply ban asking an attorney what an athlete’s getting into seems to violate the rights of everyone to do their due diligence before signing a contract.
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Check the archives. I’ve posted about this before.
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So how does the NCAA insure an attorney doesn’t read the form and discuss with a recruit. The signed form has to be sent in so the recruit has it before signing. Is there like a 15 second time allotted for signing at the X? Seems impossible that an attorney hasn’t read it and published a column on it somewhere.
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How does the NCAA insure an agent doesn’t meet with a student-athlete? Same risk.
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My point is, the form has to be in the player’s hands before hand. I take my son out of school to talk the decision over. My attorney meets with us, reviews the offer, and advises him accordingly. Granted, there isn’t any recourse if he doesn’t want to sign it but he could simply do what Roquan Smith and just enroll without signing. The conversation with the attorney is privileged, no one knows but the three of us.
The form doesn’t change much, if any, from year-to-year, nothing could keep an attorney from reading the document and publishing a column advising SAs and parents in mass before the next signing period. Can’t really understand why that hasn’t happened long ago, and no individual would be tied to it for any punishment. And has others have said, not allowing representation for a binding agreement would not stand up to judicial review. NCAA ain’t that tough, just do it!
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What if you want to negotiate the terms of the NLI? You know, like a coach or an AD does when they’re haggling with a school?
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I agree. Seems like this is easy pickings as far as legal challenges. The NCAA has already decided it didn’t want to touch the issue of pro bono lawyers for student athletes, namely Huntley Johnson, as an extra benefit.
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GFY Corch
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Coaches never change their mind Corch?
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What’s bad Meyer, should be good for Georgia.
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You’re a bad guy man.
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I’m having a hard time understanding if a kid is ready to sign and the school wants him why doing it early is a bad thing. Bad for the recruiting hype business on first Wed in Feb I guess.
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I’m really surprised more top recruits didn’t follow the Roquan Smith model this past cycle. Only the elite guys can do this, but it puts some of the power back into the athlete and their family’s hands.
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