Early Signing Period

According to Mitch Sherman of ESPN.com, the wheels are in motion for an early signing period in college football.

College football is taking steps toward establishing an early signing period, according to the NCAA official who manages the national letter of intent program.

Additionally, it seems as if early official visits are happening too.

The introduction of an early period, Peal said, likely would coincide with NCAA legislation to allow early official visits. Currently, prospects are not allowed to make official visits until Sept. 1 of their senior years.

It seems like the main sticking point is when the early signing period should be.

Peal said the NCAA recently surveyed coaches about an early signing period. Most of the disagreement, she said, involves the actual date.

Options could include a fall date, late-summer or early-summer. No consensus exists.

Frank Beamer has been in favor of an early signing period for a long while. Here's an excerpt from a 2009 interview with Mike Harris.

ACCSports.com: What's one change that needs to be made to college football today?

Beamer: There's not much. I think things are in pretty good shape. I think it would probably have something to do with recruiting and soft commitments, maybe an early sign date. There's no real easy answer. I don't like commitments, then all of a sudden they're soft commitments and they're still visiting so-and-so. It's not an easy thing, but I think we're getting a little closer to (an early signing period), because so many more kids are committing early. So many programs have their class in line before fall starts. I don't have the exact answer, but there's something there.

Beamer's given similar responses over the last couple of years.

What does everyone think about a potential early signing period?