EE's Can Now Sign Early

[Ironman8]

Early Enrollees Can Sign as Early as August 1

Big step forward IMO. Prospective early enrollee candidates can now sign on August 1st of their senior year.

The academic and membership affairs staff determined that a prospective student-athlete who intends to graduate from high school midyear and enroll at a member institution midyear during the same academic year (e.g., spring semester) may sign an institutional financial aid agreement on or after August 1 of his or her senior year, provided the institution issuing the financial aid agreement establishes, prior to issuing the agreement, that the prospective student-athlete is enrolled in all coursework necessary to graduate from high school at midyear.

 

[AdmiralBackhand]

Beautiful.

 

[NDWorld247]

Important to note that this agreement is not a LOI and does not bind the student-athlete to the university.

 

[IrishLax]

This is a HUGE move in the right direction. Wow.

 

[NDBoiler]

Good to see it moving in this direction for sure. Does anyone know how this applies to 2014 EE's? Does this mean they can sign today or does it start with the 2015 class?

 

[ThePiombino]

Important to note that this agreement is not a LOI and does not bind the student-athlete to the university.

Too bad the LOI had been rendered useless as well these days.

 

[tussin]

Important to note that this agreement is not a LOI and does not bind the student-athlete to the university.

So what is the point of it then?

 

[Ironman8]

It really helps the prospect more than the school, in that the school is obligated to provide financial aid (i.e. a scholarship) once it is signed, but it does ant least put pen to paper early on for some of these kids.

 

[NDWorld247]

So what is the point of it then?

It provides some protection to the student-athlete. While it doesn't bind the student-athlete to the school, it binds the school to the student-athlete.

 

[arrowryan]

Can 2014 recruits sign early now? Or does it start next cycle? If it starts now, I wonder if Brent will sign early.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

Freaking awesome

 

[RuntheBall]

It will be interesting to see how some schools play this. Will schools start to push earlier and earlier? Will schools lay off the lower-tier guys early? SEC?

 

[NDWorld247]

Can 2014 recruits sign early now? Or does it start next cycle? If is starts now, I wonder if Brent will sign early

My guess is it will start August 1, 2014. The NCAA doesn't usually enact "effective immediately" policy/rule changes.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

John Infante says it starts now (the guy who published the article), he also said this:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>What they’re signing is just the financial aid agreement. So the prospects can still change their minds.</p>— John Infante (@John_Infante) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_Infante/statuses/391208502472884224">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Correct. RT <a href="https://twitter.com/matmik99">@matmik99</a>: so they can still change their decision after signing the financial aid package?</p>— John Infante (@John_Infante) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_Infante/statuses/391208773026451456">October 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Note the last paragraph

This applies to all sports but will have the biggest impact on football with the largest number of early enrollees and recruiting of committed prospects. Note that midyear enrollees still cannot sign NLIs (except for junior college transfers). So the impact may be limited if coaches are unwilling to sign a prospect to a financial aid agreement that locks the university in to providing a scholarship but does nothing to commit the prospect to the university.

That said, with the rising number of early enrollees and the push for an earlier signing date, expect many coaches and prospects to take advantage of this opportunity to get at least some commitment down on paper as early as possible.

 

[GoldenIsThyFame]

So effectively all it does is allow them to sign up for financial aid and doesn't bind anyone really to anything.

 

[Ricochet]

This means nothing at all, it's fluff and completely meaningless.

It's all show and there is no substance to it at all.

If I was a top recruit there is no way in this current state of college sports and the lunacy of the NCAA I would never sign the LOI as it's not needed to get scholarship grant for athletics and all it does is bind you to a University and program that might change before I even get there and as we've seen from the University POV from the Vanderdoes situation that it nothing for them either.

Maybe one day the NCAA will get some common sense and have an early signing period and only allow a player to escape the LOI is if there is a coaching change or a if a program that one was going to take gets dropped.

The reason I would never sign a LOI is because it's not a B&W situation and the school chosen could be more or less equals with the slightest reasons for choosing one over the other and the coach leaving could be there difference.

I can see it with some of the recruits that ND and Stanford go after and a prospect more or less likes them equally because the like the education, players and coaches equally but that fit just a tad bit better in there system or it's closer to home so they chose Stanford but then Shaw takes a job in the NFL and now the variable has changed and it's not what they committed to and maybe because of that ND is the prospects clear top chose so why shouldn't that player be able to go where he wants?

IMO it's very different situation than with Vanderdoes because his situation my have changed but what he committed to didn't .

 

[irishknight35]

It's not a full on LOI but it does seem to create more buy in between recruit and school.

My only question is if there are rules in place preventing a recruit from signing multiples of these financial aid agreements thus just guaranteeing his spot at all his favorite schools regardless of his final decision.

If they can only sign one then it seems much more binding but a recruit could in theory sign their financial aid agreement with one school but sign their LOI with another.

 

[Ironman8]

So effectively all it does is allow them to sign up for financial aid and doesn't bind anyone really to anything.

To me it seems like more a step in the right direction than anything meaningful in functionality.

 

[NDohio]

This means nothing at all, it's fluff and completely meaningless.

It's all show and there is no substance to it at all.

If I was a top recruit there is no way in this current state of college sports and the lunacy of the NCAA I would never sign the LOI as it's not needed to get scholarship grant for athletics and all it does is bind you to a University and program that might change before I even get there and as we've seen from the University POV from the Vanderdoes situation that it nothing for them either.

Maybe one day the NCAA will get some common sense and have an early signing period and only allow a player to escape the LOI is if there is a coaching change or a if a program that one was going to take gets dropped.

The reason I would never sign a LOI is because it's not a B&W situation and the school chosen could be more or less equals with the slightest reasons for choosing one over the other and the coach leaving could be there difference.

I can see it with some of the recruits that ND and Stanford go after and a prospect more or less likes them equally because the like the education, players and coaches equally but that fit just a tad bit better in there system or it's closer to home so they chose Stanford but then Shaw takes a job in the NFL and now the variable has changed and it's not what they committed to and maybe because of that ND is the prospects clear top chose so why shouldn't that player be able to go where he wants?

IMO it's very different situation than with Vanderdoes because his situation my have changed but what he committed to didn't .

Except that the school will not offer you this scholarship unless you sign the LOI.

 

[irishknight35]

Except that the school will not offer you this scholarship unless you sign the LOI.

So it falls back on the word of the recruit to sign his LOI with a particular school and then honor that written contract.

 

[military_irish]

This is a step in the right direction but as of now it only benefits the recruit and not the university like an actual early signing period would do.

 

[NDohio]

So it falls back on the word of the recruit to sign his LOI with a particular school and then honor that written contract.

Yes indeed.

 

[ND NYC]

Make the scholarships 4 years not 1 year renewables and then we have something that would really benefit ND (we give 4 yr to all even though its technically 1 yr)...and the student athletes themselves everywhere.

see: SEC and other schools and greyshirting, dropping guys off scholly who suck to make room for guys that are better....etc etc etc

 

[Ironman8]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Bluechip QB Brandon Harris RT <a href="https://twitter.com/LSUCoachWilson">@LSUCoachWilson</a> Congrats to my dawg <a href="https://twitter.com/bharrisqb1">@bharrisqb1</a> for being the first mid-year signee in CFB history!</p>— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/BFeldmanCBS/statuses/398570404324716544">November 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Ironman8]

Guess you can mention recruit's by name once you come to this agreement. That in and of itself is a benefit to the staff IMO.

 

[IrishLax]

Guess you can mention recruit's by name once you come to this agreement. That in and of itself is a benefit to the staff IMO.

Absolutely.

 

[Bishop2b5]

So it falls back on the word of the recruit to sign his LOI with a particular school and then honor that written contract.

If a kid has verbally agreed to play for a school and he's an early enrollee, they can start his scholarship in January. The moment he steps into his first class, he has effectively signed his LOI. The school is obligated to keep him on scholarship for a year and he is barred from signing with any other program for that year, just as though he'd already signed.

 

[koonja]

**** Michigan.


I haven't read this article yet, and wanted to be tagged in this thread, and this is all I could come up with.

 

[BGIF]

I don't see this as any benefit to ND.

The 4.0/32 ACT that wants to come to ND was never a problem.

The 2.5/17 or lower was and still is. The somewhat better student that ND Admissions wants to retake any class (or test) to improve a grade (score) will now say, "Bama and 50other schools said I was OK in August and you tell me I have to retake a course (or a test) and wait until my Fall semester grades are posted? I could miss out on EE at those others waiting on you. No, thank you."

Any recruit that does EE to ND in August can still switch in January, right up to the first day of classes..