Advertisement
football Edit

By The Numbers: Early Signing Period an unqualified success

Trevor Lawrence
Trevor Lawrence (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

MORE: Storylines to follow during the Late Signing Period

For the first time ever, a three day early signing period starting on Dec. 20 was allowed for college football prospects. The debates about its pros and cons for players and coaches were fierce. The full scope of its effects will not be known for some time but, after a deep dive into the unofficial numbers, here are some interesting figures that emerged.

1,883 - PROSPECTS THAT SIGNED THEIR NLI DURING THE EARLY SIGNING PERIOD

Advertisement

The early signing period seemed like a welcome addition to the recruiting process and there were clearly a lot of players and coaches that took advantage of the opportunity to officially end the recruiting process before the normal Signing Day of the first Wednesday in February. This unofficial number of early signees, is about 70 percent of the total number of FBS signings in a given recruiting cycle. This means only 30 percent of the normal pool of talent available to college coaches in this final month and a half of the recruiting cycle.

652 - PROSPECTS THAT ARE COMMITTED BUT DID NOT SIGN EARLY

There are many reasons a prospect may not have signed with the school they are committed to during the early signing period. This group will be under the microscope as the February Signing Day approaches. Of the 652 prospects that are verbally committed but did not sign, there are 39 four-star prospects. Those 39 prospects and 72 remaining uncommitted four- and five-star prospects will be under the most pressure in this stretch run to National Signing Day.

7 - POWER FIVE TEAMS SIGNED SEVEN PERCENT MORE OF THEIR TOTAL RECRUITING CLASSES THAN GROUP OF FIVE CONFERENCE SCHOOLS DID DURING THE EARLY SIGNING PERIOD

One of the big drivers behind putting this early signing period in place was helping the smaller schools benefit from finding and recruiting quality prospects before the bigger schools finally turned their attention towards those prospects and quickly getting those commitments. With that in mind, it doesn’t look as though Group of Five schools were able to take advantage of this new tool at their disposal. Power Five schools signed just over 200 more prospects than Group of Five schools and are seven percent closer to filling their classes.

268 - PROSPECTS THAT SIGNED WITH BIG TEN TEAMS IN THE EARLY SIGNING PERIOD

The Big Ten signed the most prospects during the early signing period with 268 high school seniors sending in their National Letters of Intent. The ACC came in a close second and then there is a big drop off to the SEC. Interestingly enough, two Group of Five conferences, the AAC and the MAC, had more early signings than the Big 12 and even Conference USA had more signings than the Pac-12.

677 - PROSPECTS FROM THE SOUTHEAST THAT SIGNED EARLY

This wasn’t even close as the Southeast had over 200 more prospects sign than the next closest region. Behind the Southeast (South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi) was the Mid-South (Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri). The Mid-Atlantic (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C., West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina) came in third followed by the West region (New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii and Alaska) and then the Midwest (Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota)

Advertisement