Rival Views: Should there be an early signing period this year?

Earlier this week, the NCAA elected to extend the dead period for Division I basketball recruiting to Jan. 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic. That means no campus visits, no going out to watch prospects at schools and not much other than phone calls, texts, video calls and Zoom meetings for recruiting. At this point, many are starting to wonder if there should be an early signing period this year? Analysts Eric Bossi and Dan McDonald take Rival views.

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2021 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

2022 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team

This may sound strange coming from me given that I’ve long been a proponent of eliminating the early signing period and having just one period. But, this would be the wrong year to do it.

Let’s face it, the ongoing pandemic hasn’t stopped kids from committing. Surprisingly, top players have made early commitments at a rate that we’ve never seen before. In fact, almost two thirds of the 2021 Rivals150 (95) have already committed. These guys and the other ranked players who haven’t yet committed don’t need the early signing period, they are safe. But, the non-ranked kids? The low majors, the mid majors and those scrapping to go up higher? I think they need it.

Because if they can’t sign early, then I am telling you right now that there will be a major shift in the winter and spring. The focus of schools with scholarships that they usually would have filled early will be shifted to the recruitment of Division I transfers. I’ve already had many coaches tell me that is their plan and it is definitely being brought up. There are plenty of things that make signing guys without a chance to scout them less than ideal. But, the class of 2021 has already suffered badly due to Covid-19. Eliminating the early signing period this year would inflict even more damage on them.

I'm strongly against an early signing period taking place in November. College coaches haven't been able to get on the road to recruit since March, which means they missed the key evaluation periods in April, June and and July to see prospects in the 2021 class as well as home visits from September thru the end of the year. Because of the rise in the transfer market, most coaching staffs don't spend a ton of time with the junior class until the end of their junior year because it's all about filling out the current class with seniors and transfers. It'd be a really bad move to ask coaches and prospects to make it official in November when in a lot of cases we're talking about relationships that have been built over zoom calls and not in person. If visits aren't going to take place until January 1st at the earliest, there should not be a signing period in November.