Peterson: NCAA didn't go far enough with football's new early signing period

FRISCO, Texas — You know the new rule that starts in December — the one that allows the next year’s football recruits to sign early national letters of intent? Bob Bowlsby proposed an interesting tweak during last week’s Big 12 Media Days.

Instead of a 72-hour early signing period starting on Dec. 20, why not extend the window for a month?

“You've got 14 days to sign it,” Bowlsby said. “Maybe the window runs from October 1 to November 15 — or maybe it runs from September 1 to November 1 — and you get it over before the postseason.”

Let’s take this a step farther, Mr. Big 12 Commish:

Give high school seniors-to-be the opportunity — if they choose — to sign when they commit? Throw in an “all deals are off” caveat for if the coach leaves.

Return to normalcy as quickly as possible — not just for the recruits, but for the college and high school coaches, too.

I didn’t ask Iowa State’s Matt Campbell about it, but here’s betting he’d be in favor. Here’s betting all schools like Iowa State would endorse it.

Verbal commitment. Sign paperwork. Done deal.

No more poaching someone’s verbal commitments — and if you’re not doing it, you’re not doing your job. No more dipping into strapped recruiting budgets to care-take recruits who've already verbally pledged their non-binding allegiances. No more 11th-hour inquiries — like the one Allen Lazard faced after he’d been officially pledged to Iowa State for months and, unofficially, for years.

“I may have had a coach or two reach out,” Lazard told me. “I won’t say names. It didn’t bug me. It’s a part of it. You can’t be mad at them; they’re doing their job. They’re doing their best to get one last crack at you.”

Hit rewind to Lazard’s national letter of intent signing day, back in February 2014.

"He's not going to a school in Northern Indiana," then-Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads told reporters, referring to, ahem, Notre Dame. "Boy, they wasted a lot of time and money.

“He's not going to another school in this state (Iowa), who feverishly tried to call him about a half-a-dozen times in the last week.”

Lazard told me last week that he’d have signed early if it was available back then.

“If you’re for sure where you’re going, then sign,” he said. “Get it over with if you want. Enjoy your senior year.”

Lazard’s recruitment wasn't like most. There wasn’t a moment when he didn’t envision following in his father Kevin’s Iowa State football player footsteps.

For Cyclone Brian Peavy, it was different. He hails from Texas. He committed to Iowa State, but he wasn’t committed enough to sign early, if that option would have been available.

“I can’t quite say I would have signed early if it was available back then,” Peavy said. “The only thing I can say for sure was that I knew I wanted to play in the Big 12.”

Commit. Sign. Done deal.

Barring an unforeseen coaching change, of course.

If you want.

It’s something that might happen by the time college football gets its biggest face-change; when all the high-dollar television contracts expire in 2024 and 2025.

“The early visits and the early signing dates are substantial changes, and I would suggest that we still have a lot of work to do there,” Bowlsby said. “We have data that indicates that about 70 percent of the Division-I football prospects make their decision before the first of October and really would like to get the recruitment process over with.

“Whether we can get (the December signing date) earlier is anybody's guess. It took us years to get to the early signing date in December that we just adopted, but we're going to keep swinging the bat and seeing if we can get there, because I think there's still more to be done.”

Meanwhile, Campbell has 11 verbal commitments so far for 2018 and he expects all or most to sign in December. At least that’s his plan.

“I hope we’re close to 100 percent,” he said. “These are guys, for the most part, that have been committed for three or four months, and you hope that guys that are committed that long will say 'We’re in it for the long haul' on signing day — guys that will stay true to their words.”

Get their names on the national letters of intent. Fill recruiting gaps. Move on to the next recruiting class(es).

“It’s a good thing for us. It allows us to know who we’re recruiting, and what opportunities we have available,” Campbell said. “The early signing period is going to allow the chips to fall. You’re going to know where you stand real fast in this recruiting process.”

Red flags will be hoisted throughout college football when committed recruits don’t sign in December. It’ll underscore that verbal commitments are nothing more than refundable hotel reservations — guaranteed homes until recruits (and coaches, for that matter) change their minds.

“Is he really committed? Probably not,” Campbell theorized. “Do you still have a chance at him?

“Probably yes, but you have to work really hard on him to finish the process.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been with the Register for parts of five decades. Randy writes opinion and analysis of Iowa State football and basketball. You can reach Randy at rpeterson@dmreg.com or on Twitter at @RandyPete.