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NCAA Solidifies December Date for Early Enrollees

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We already looked at how a few of the proposed new rule changes for college football and recruiting either help or hurt Oklahoma State, but it’s worth revisiting today because the NCAA set in stone an early signing period for college football. It goes into effect later this year (as do the other changes).

Monday, the Collegiate Commissioners Association officially approved a three-day signing period for high school seniors. The 72-hour window will begin Dec. 20 and end Dec. 22. Seniors who are settled on their college choice can sign a National Letter of Intent in that timeframe. Any player who doesn’t sign in the early-signing period will have to wait until National Signing Day on Feb. 7, 2018 to sign with a school. [Yahoo]

This may or may not be significant to Oklahoma State, but I think it probably helps them as a program. On a case-by-case basis, nobody knows whether a recruit will want to lock down a commitment early or wait until the end, but generally Oklahoma State seems to be good at evaluating talent up front.

What this means is that you might be able to get a player or two to sign early that would have flipped in January before the traditional February signing day to Texas or OU. You won’t get this every year, to be sure. Some players won’t sign in December and will still flip in January. Many players who will sign in December wouldn’t have flipped anyway.

But this drops a feather on the OSU end of the scale if the other side is the Ohio States and Texas A&Ms — recruiting behemoths who often swipe stars at the end of the road. One other thing we haven’t discussed is that a December signing period doesn’t allow for the Bamas and Clemsons to win their titles and make a victory lap on the recruiting trail. That’s a good thing for smaller schools like Oklahoma State. Plus a lot of players are just ready for the recruiting hoopla to be over at that point.

It will be impossible to determine the true effect on OSU, but I think over the course of, say, five years, you’re going to see a really good player or two sign in December and be thankful you didn’t have to insulate them all the way until February.

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