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The following article is sponsored by National Scouting Report. Visit NSR’s web site at http://www.nsr-inc.com/
SHOULD COLLEGE PROSPECTS SIGN DURING EARLY SIGNING PERIOD?
By Gary Silvers
Many college prospects across the country will have a difficult decision to make next month: to sign or not to sign.
The early signing period for high school seniors who will be enrolling at NCAA Division I or II universities during the 2016-17 school year is Nov. 11-18. Student-athletes in all sports except football, soccer and men’s water polo will have a one-week window to sign a National Letter of Intent (NLI).
If they don’t sign then, seniors must wait until the regular signing periods in 2016. Football, soccer and men’s water polo players can sign NLIs beginning Feb. 3. Athletes in all other sports can sign starting April 13.
What’s a prospect to do?
First of all, in order to sign during either period, a senior must have received a verbal offer from an NCAA Division I or II coach and have made a verbal commitment. Neither an offer nor a commitment is binding until a prospect officially signs an NLI.
When to sign an NLI depends a lot on the sport. In softball, for example, about 80 percent of Division I players and about 75 percent of Division II players sign early, estimates Robby Wilson, National Softball Director for National Scouting Report. Conversely, in men’s basketball, the numbers are almost reversed, said Frank Gump, NSR’s National Basketball Director.
“Softball is different than many other sports,” Wilson said. “Coaches aren’t sitting around waiting on a kid to decide on a school, so the other coaches can move down the [recruiting] board and offer the other kids. In softball, the coaches already know who they have verbally committed, but keep an ‘active’ board until they get the pen ink dry [on an NLI] because, as we all know, a kid in softball can verbally commit then, weeks before the signing, the significance of the distance, etc., sinks in and she decides to back out.”
There are several advantages to signing early.
One advantage for student-athletes is ending the recruiting process and enjoying their senior year. While recruiting calls and visits can be fun and exciting, they also can be time-consuming and exhausting. Once a senior finds that perfect college fit – academically and athletically – it might be best to seal the deal.
Scholarship money is another advantage. Money is usually awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. If a senior doesn’t sign early, his/her scholarship money could go to another prospect. Also, there are no guarantees that roster spots still will be available during the regular signing period.
Another advantage is security -- physical security. What happens if a student-athlete gets injured during his/her senior year? If he/she signs early, a coach likely will honor his/her scholarship. If he/she waits until the regular signing period, a coach can rescind his/her verbal offer.
There also are several disadvantages to signing early.
If you haven’t completed your college visits and narrowed down your choices, you don’t want to rush into any decisions. Remember, an NLI is binding.
If you hope to increase your athletic stock and play at a higher college level, it may be best to wait.
If you hope to improve your grade-point average or test scores to gain admission to colleges, it’s probably best to wait.
There’s also another major reason many top student-athletes, particularly in men’s basketball, prefer to wait until the regular signing period.
“The media exposure is totally different,” Gump said. “If you sign in November, you only usually get local media coverage. If you want national attention -- a big, coming-out party with lots of pomp and circumstance -- you wait until April.”
Does Gump agree with that philosophy?
“Personally, I think if a prospect has found the right fit, he or she should sign early,” he said. “To me, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.”
High school seniors who have not received verbal offers from college coaches or have not spoken directly to them should contact National Scouting Report, the world’s oldest and largest high school scouting and college recruiting organization.More than 95 percent of NSR’s qualified prospects receive scholarship offers. For a FREE in-home consultation, contact Area Director Gary Silvers at (215) 480-8764 or gsilvers@nsr-inc.com.