National Signing Day decline

Go back 10 years in the college football world. National Signing Day in February was a holiday for fans of the sport. The amount of following it got from the biggest fans would blow the minds of typical sports fans.

Players used to enter signing day with a few candidates of where they would sign. Many college football fans old enough will remember the suspense as they watched a major blue-chip recruit choose a hat, hoping it was their team’s.

People who were involved in the sport at the time would have stories from this time that would be at least entertaining, and likely mind-blowing to young fans.

Those days are gone now, though. National Signing Day still comes around in February, but very few players actually sign. How did that happen, and why is National Signing Day not the spectacle that had fans on the edge of their seats watching ESPN for hours, waiting for 17 and 18-year-olds to announce where they were going to college?

This all started in 2017. 2017 marked the first year an early National Signing Day was held in December, allowing players to enroll early and participate in spring workouts.

In the first year of the early signing window, 72.8% of players signed in that window. Just one year later, it was up to 85.2%, and that number isn’t going down, especially for top recruits. This past cycle, over 95% of blue-chip recruits signed in the early window.

On the surface, it seems like a good idea, beneficial for both players and coaches. Some in both positions have expressed support for the early signing period. Is it really what’s best, though?

This year, early signing day was the week after Thanksgiving, before conference championship weekend. That’s the equivalent of having the NFL Draft days before Wild Card Weekend. Does this not sound backwards?

The other major factor here is the transfer portal. The timing of that is an issue, too, but we’ll set that aside for now. The fact is, it detracts from the attention and excitement of high school recruits on National Signing Day.

This is because fans have already seen these players on national TV on Saturdays, and the idea of them joining their team and immediately contributing draws more attention. While there are exceptions, most high school recruits need a year or two to develop before they’re ready to play on a consistent basis in major college football.

Transfers, on the other hand, are often ready to play as soon as they show up. This brings fan excitement when they’ve watched a player and think that he could make those contributions for their team.

It simply drives more viewership than high school recruiting now. When players like Caleb Williams, Travis Hunter, Dillon Gabriel and Caleb Downs are available, they’re going to attract people’s attention more than a high school athlete that maybe had one game televised before the college season started.

There is a scenario where National Signing Day returns. It would take time for fans to become as engaged as they were in the past, but there is a world where recruits are signing in February, after the season again.

Some powerful voices in the sport are pushing for a summer training camp and OTA model similar to the NFL's. That would allow players to sign in February, finish high school in the spring, and not miss any offseason training, since spring practice would be eliminated.

The other popular proposal is moving the season up. This year, the national championship game was on January 19, and next year it will be even later on January 25. Many feel the season should end on New Year’s Day.

That would allow for the transfer portal and high school signings to occur after the season. It’s unclear which proposal has more support or is more likely to succeed, but either would greatly benefit the sport and the popularity of National Signing Day.

Jacob Rudy is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jar7371@psu.edu.