NCAA Rule Changes will have massive impact on recruiting

If college football recruiting wasn’t already out-of-hand, it could get even crazier if new legislation is passed this week.

According to a story by Chris Hummer for 247sports, the NCAA Division 1 Council will hear a proposal for rule changes in Indianapolis on Thursday and Friday.

Among the proposed NCAA rule changes are adding a 10th full-time assistant coach to football coaching staffs and a second national signing day.

10th Full-Time Assistant Coach

I see no problem in adding another assistant coach. Like Hummer says in his story, pretty much every team in the country has a QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, Special Teams coach, as well as the head coach coaching one of those positions. There’s also some teams that have coaches to specifically coach inside and outside linebackers.

So the new full-time assistant coach likely wouldn’t be coaching any of those positions. The reason for a new coach would be to focus entirely on recruiting. And with the current landscape of recruiting and now the potential second national signing day, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Second National Signing Day

Selfishly I’m not in favor of a second national signing day, because that first Wednesday in February is one of my favorite days of the entire year.

College coaches have seemingly unanimously been against a signing day in June, but this new rule is proposing the additional signing day on the third Wednesday of December, which is already when JUCO prospects can sign their national letters of intent.

Pros

There are some prospects who are committed to a school as juniors and sometimes earlier. They’re sold on their decision and they don’t want to take any visits to any other schools. That’s who this additional signing day is for.

But it’s mainly for the coaches. If a coach has 20 commits come January, he doesn’t only recruit the additional 5-10 recruits they’re trying to get on board, they also have to continue to recruit the 20 prospects that are already committed.

Cons

Theoretically there aren’t many cons to the new signing day from a recruit standpoint. If you’re ready to sign by then, you sign. But if you’re not ready, you wait till February.

But the biggest concern I have is the coaches. Like most people in their careers, coaches are always looking for the next big opportunity. And they’re not above pulling a bait-and-switch on these prospects.

One specific example is with Georgia linebacker Roquan Smith and UCLA defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. On National Signing Day in 2015, Smith picked UCLA on national television. But that same day it came out that Ulbrich had taken a job with the Atlanta Falcons.

Smith said Ulbrich told him about the Falcons’ offer, but said that he had turned it down. Luckily for Smith, he never signed the NLI with the Bruins, and was able to look around before eventually choosing the in-state Bulldogs. But not every recruit is so lucky.

Recruiting has already gotten so out-of-hand, a second national signing day would only exacerbate that. College coaches are already recruiting juniors, sophomores, freshmen, and even sometimes eighth graders.

Moving the calendar up and adding a second national signing day would be a mistake.