Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Aim To Reap Rewards Of Early Signing Period
December 19, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It is more a coincidence of the calendar than a planned convergence, but Wednesday will present an early Christmas present to football programs across the nation when they unwrap their newest recruiting classes.
If all goes well, Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre and his staff believe their newest group of Buffaloes will be just what they wanted: a class that will address some needs, add athleticism across the board and yield several players who could become immediate contributors.
Of course, that is the aim of every recruiting class every year at every program in America.
But what will stand out most about the newest Buffaloes is that they will be the first class ever to sign national letters of intent in December instead of the traditional February date.
The February signing date will still occur, but with most programs expected to sign the bulk of their classes this week, the February period will not have the impact it once did.
"I like the early signing period, even though it definitely makes things more hectic because you have more visits during the season and you are wrapping up a class in December," MacIntyre said Tuesday. "There were days when I had three visits in one day. But I think a lot of the kids are ready to sign, ready to get it over with, enjoy Christmas and get back to school in the spring and not have to worry about the process any more."
MacIntyre has long been a proponent of an early signing date. In fact, he would like the early date to be bumped up to July, before the recruits' high school senior seasons.
"Do it just like basketball does," MacIntyre said, referring to college basketball's signing periods in November and April. "Sign them before their season begins and have one afterwards. That's still what I'm a proponent of, especially now that we're allowed to have official visits in April, May and June. If kids commit, they ought to be able to sign in July and then they can go on with their senior season, and we can have another signing date in February. Then, everyone can focus a little more strictly on their season — the player, the high school coach and the college coach."
One thing the early signing date does accomplish is add a premium to quality evaluation by rewarding coaching staffs who are able to identify top prospects early. The Buffs believe they have done a good job in identifying those prospects and getting a good start on convincing them Colorado is the place to continue their education and football career.
Wednesday, they hope to reap the rewards of that work.
"Our recruiting department and our coaches have done a great job of evaluating quickly and early and evaluating correctly," MacIntyre said. "That's helped us tremendously. That helped us get on a lot of young men early and really helped in this recruiting process."
Complete coverage of the day's events will be available on CUBuffs.com. That includes updates as each player officially signs is national letter of intent, as well as hourly updates from voice of the Buffs Mark Johnson.
MacIntyre will then appear at a 3 p.m. press conference to discuss the day's events and talk about the latest class. The press conference will be streamed live on Facebook and Twitter, and will also be available on-demand on YouTube.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
