We are nearly a month from the early signing period in college football recruiting for the 2020 class.
For those unfamiliar with the early signing period and what to expect, here is a look at what has happened in the past, what the early signing period entails and what could happen this year.
What is it?
College football prospects are allowed to sign a national letter of intent during two periods, the early signing period in December and the first Wednesday in February. This is only the third recruiting class that has had the option to sign early and it has become increasingly more popular for recruits to sign early and end their recruitments.
When prospects sign a letter of intent, it effectively ends their recruitment and prevents opposing coaches from contacting them once they send in the letter. It binds the prospect to the school and binds them to the rules of the national letter of intent.
If a recruit signs early then changes his mind, the school must release him from the letter of intent to get him out of the contract. Something similar happened this past year with Bru McCoy, who signed and enrolled early with Southern Cal, then changed his mind once he was on campus.
McCoy was released from his letter of intent and allowed to transfer to Texas, but he decided to return to USC.
When is it?
The early signing period is Dec. 18-20. If a prospect wants to sign early, he must sign in that time frame. Recruits do not have to sign early, even if they are planning to enroll in January.
It is not necessary to sign early, but it has become a growing trend.
Who has signed in the past?
The 2018 class was the first recruiting class to experience the early signing period, so it ended up being somewhat of a feeling-out process for both coaches and recruits.
The fact that it was new didn't stop recruits from signing, though, as 1,976 FBS prospects signed in December. That included 221 ESPN 300 prospects and 11 of 14 five-star recruits. All told, 71.9 percent of the entire class signed early.
The Big Ten had the most success with 269 recruits signing early, followed by 244 in the ACC, 219 in the SEC, 178 in the Big 12 and 161 in the Pac-12.
The 2019 class saw an increase from those numbers, with 260 of the ESPN 300 prospects signing in the early signing period, 39 more than 2018. In addition to those recruits who signed, 26 ESPN 300 recruits were committed but unsigned prior to signing day in February, meaning only 14 ESPN 300 recruits were uncommitted and unsigned going into the February signing day.
Those numbers show just how important this early signing period is for coaches filling their future rosters.
What to watch for this year
As it stands, 58 ESPN 300 prospects are uncommitted with about a month to go until early signing. That includes five-stars Jordan Burch, Darnell Washington, Zachary Evans, Justin Flowe, Kelee Ringo and Reggie Grimes.
Among that list of 58 uncommitted recruits, 10 are ranked in the top 50 and 20 are in the top 100, so there are some big names remaining in this class.
Just because they are uncommitted, however, does not mean they will be signing in December. Grimes is not planning to sign early. Defensive end Alfred Collins said he isn't sure but doesn't think he will sign in December.
Linebacker Phillip Webb is uncommitted, but will sign early along with running backs Daniyel Ngata and Jaylan Knighton, wide receiver Gary Bryant and offensive linemen Marcus Dumervil and Andrew Gentry, among others.
There will be many names coming off the board between now and then, which means coaches will be in overdrive once the season is over to convince recruits to sign.
Because more and more recruits are signing early, a lot of coaches are treating this as the only signing period. If recruits who are currently committed decide not to sign, coaches might consider them not committed and look to fill those spots.
That can cause a predicament for coaches on when they should push a recruit to sign and when they should allow him room to make his own decision.
Many prospects are committed and plan to sign early, though, which will make the lives of coaches easier. The No. 1 recruit, Julian Fleming, is committed to Ohio State and has said he will sign with the Buckeyes in December, as will his future teammate, five-star offensive lineman Paris Johnson Jr.
Fellow five-star defensive end Chris Braswell, an Alabama commit, and offensive lineman Mitchell Mayes, a Clemson commit, both said they will be signing early.
What impact can the early signing period have?
In the 2019 recruiting class, there was much activity from mid-November until the end of the early signing period. As the class rankings were updated from November to Jan. 9, Florida, USC and Tennessee all worked their way into the top 15.
USC jumped from No. 24 to 15, Florida moved up to 11 from 20 and Tennessee went from 16 to 14, all within those 6-7 weeks. Georgia also moved from the No. 4 team up to No. 2, indicating it added some big names.
With so many significant names still on the board, there is room for programs to continue to move up or maintain their spot at the top of the 2020 rankings. Georgia, Alabama, LSU, Clemson and Texas A&M are such programs.
Clemson is still in the mix for five-stars Jordan Burch and Justin Flowe, as well as wide receiver Xzavier Henderson. Georgia still has a shot at five-star cornerback Kelee Ringo and five-star tight end Darnell Washington.
LSU is in the running for linebacker Phillip Webb, running back Zachary Evans and offensive lineman Marcus Dumervil, among others. The Aggies could still get linebacker Antonio Doyle, are in the mix for Evans and are also trying to land cornerback Dontae Manning.
What's interesting about those teams having so much left is that Alabama is already sitting at No. 1 in the class rankings, LSU at No. 2, and Clemson and Georgia at 4 and 5. If those teams add more top prospects, they would have a massive amount of ESPN 300 prospects.
As it stands, Alabama has the most ESPN 300 commitments with 19, followed by LSU (17), Ohio State (16), Clemson (15) and Georgia (13). Texas also has 13 committed, Florida has 10 and three teams have nine ESPN 300 commitments.