Bowlsby was the chairman of the Division I football oversight committee when the early signing period first went into effect. Also on that committee? Former Nebraska athletic director Sean Eichorst.
“There’s been a lot more talk than I’ve heard in recent years about either getting rid of (the early signing period) altogether, or perhaps moving it to after the first of the year,” Bowlsby told the forum.
There’s been plenty of change in the college football landscape since 2017, of course. The transfer portal has become a driving force in player movement, as has the lifting of restrictions against players who transfer, allowing them to be immediately eligible at their next school.
“Clearly, things have changed since the early signing date was put in,” Bowlsby said. “The transfer portal didn’t exist at the time, and there are things that have changed. At the end, we’re going to have to go back to the reason we put it in place and ask if that’s still a valid reason.”
While there are positives to the early dates — Wiltfong pointed to college coaches not having to “babysit” their commits for two extra months and worry about another school flipping them, or smaller schools having to squeeze money out of already tight budgets to make extra visits to those players — the chaos of the past several weeks has meant change perhaps being back on the table.
