how will a staff deal with a player who has verbally committed but declines to take advantage of the early signing period? If the player doesn't sign will the staff regard that scholarship as open (or re-opened)? I foresee much message-board panic.
If a kid gives you a verbal but refuses to sign in December, then you treat him like any other non-committed player. I would assume that ND has two types of offers. The must have - who is told that ND will hold a place open for him right till the end, and the wanted - a kid who is often told that they have multiple offers out for his spot, and the scholarship is given to the first one who commits.
For the must have recruit, nothing changes. ND will still recruit and hold a spot open. For the simply want recruit who gave a verbal but refused to sign in December, I think the coaches may have to reevaluate him. If he still wants to verbal, they may tell him that he is now 3rd on their list for his spot. They will only accept his verbal if Billy Jones or Joe Smith verbal elsewhere. Or they may simply accept his verbal once more and wait for the February signing date.
An early verbal who refuses to sign in December really puts the coaches in a tough spot. I personally would be wary of this recruit and would strongly question his desire to attend ND. Unless their is a wide talent gap between him and others on their recruiting board, I would simply move on. I would put him on the back burner and would only go back to him if others on my list committed elsewhere.
I think you are right, but it will be the same thing with all the other schools. Actually, it's sort of a good thing. If we have a verbal before the new signing period and the player isn't really committed in his mind, we don't necessarily know until signing day. Here, it gives us a heads up a little earlier when there is still sometime to scramble. I don't expect the coaches to be too surprised by who doesn't sign as I believe they have a decent idea of who the solid commits are and who is wavering, but there are a few kids who play it close to the vest or have a brain fart late in the process who they might not know are still not really committed.
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Depending on the kid they would probably keep recruiting him, but would also scramble to find a potential replacement.
Hopefully its a non-issue with all commits signing...then ND just focuses on a few players to close out the class.
That way, players can go through their senior seasons all signed up if they wish, and they are protected from injuries affecting their status. They are basically just creating two signing days. There are some advantages for coaches, but the unintended consequences are plentiful.
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If a player has an issue with grades or needs classes, then a December signing date wouldn't help them much either, since most schools semesters end in January. They'd have to wait till February anyway.
And even so, those kids are also less likely to be committed in August as well, since Notre Dame would need to see at least quarter scores to allow them to commit at all.
I bet at least half, if not more, of the current commits would be able to sign in August if they had the opportunity.
we have seen before.
What I was wondering is whether the players who sign early will have cleared admissions.