- December 6th, 2017, 1:00 pm
#542338
It has been referenced numerous times over the past few months, but there is an early signing period coming up for football for the first time ever. It is strategically placed just before Christmas so that kids who want the distraction of recruiting out of the way through the holidays can end it all with the stroke of a pen.
Traditionally the month of January has been the time that the majority of official visits takes place with the kids free from football distractions and focused on the next level. We are seeing considerably greater effort here at LU and at other schools to move up that timeline into November and December.
This could work for us or against us. Now that the big boys are getting the ink earlier, it should help persuade those kids who were holding out hope for the P5s who have strung them along with "interest" to recognize what their options really are. That's in our favor in January. It also helps us secure kids that have generated late buzz with a stellar senior season like Uriah West. On the other hand, we have benefited from kids holding out hope into January for that dream offer and then looked around and we were ready and waiting to swoop in. That will be tougher as we have seen in the hoops scenario the past few years.
The one other significant change we will see this spring from the addition of this December Signing Period is that juniors will now be able to take official visits beginning in April. That is a significant development. That is also why I suspect you are seeing us offer so many 2019 kids this year. We want them to take an official to us in the spring before the big boys come calling.
Traditionally the month of January has been the time that the majority of official visits takes place with the kids free from football distractions and focused on the next level. We are seeing considerably greater effort here at LU and at other schools to move up that timeline into November and December.
This could work for us or against us. Now that the big boys are getting the ink earlier, it should help persuade those kids who were holding out hope for the P5s who have strung them along with "interest" to recognize what their options really are. That's in our favor in January. It also helps us secure kids that have generated late buzz with a stellar senior season like Uriah West. On the other hand, we have benefited from kids holding out hope into January for that dream offer and then looked around and we were ready and waiting to swoop in. That will be tougher as we have seen in the hoops scenario the past few years.
The one other significant change we will see this spring from the addition of this December Signing Period is that juniors will now be able to take official visits beginning in April. That is a significant development. That is also why I suspect you are seeing us offer so many 2019 kids this year. We want them to take an official to us in the spring before the big boys come calling.
--Fumble (1961-2009), RIP
- By ballcoach15