A Requiem for National Signing Day

You may not even be aware, but today is National Signing Day. The first Wednesday in February used to be one of the most important days on the College Football calendar and now it goes by with barely even a mention of the holiday that still exists, if only technically.

The "early" signing period in December is now the de facto National Signing Day and has been for several years. There is only one player in On3's Top 100 recruits of the 2025 class who has not signed with a school or already started classes as an early enrollee. For teams in the College Football Playoff, this year's early signing period came as they were preparing for the biggest games of their season — and the only ones people seem to care about anymore. There is a discussion to be had about the early signing period and when it should be, but with the proliferation of early enrollees now, there's just really no way to get around having it during the season.

But damn it, I miss when the first week of February would roll around and we'd get that last hit of college football before we go into the dark months. I guess the Playoff goes so long now that we basically drag it out that far anyway, but there was nothing like watching National Signing Day commitments and playing the hat game back when that meant something. Now, half of the 2025 class has already been in college for a month. And that's obviously great for the programs and player development, but I long for the days of having a holiday devoted to recruiting. It just doesn't hit the same anymore.

There was nothing like getting ready for school in the morning and seeing the couple dozen kids who had already faxed in their National Letters of Intent and then building the rest of your day around a couple of commitments that would be happening later that afternoon on ESPNU or some high school's YouTube page.

I wish there was a way to know you were in the good ole days before you've actually left them.