Alabama Football: The real reason behind the NCAA Early Signing Period

At the SEC Spring Meetings Saban further explained the Alabama football position and response to the Early Signing Period.

The spokesman for Alabama football, Nick Saban continues to explain his dissatisfaction with the new NCAA December Early Signing Period.

We review his latest explanation and also discuss why the new rules harm the top college football programs.

At the beginning of the SEC Spring Meeting, Saban spoke to the media. Much of his attention was focused on the new Early Signing Period. Charlie Potter of Bama Online reported what Nick said.

"Saban pointed to the “paranoia that someone else has an advantage” as the reason to change the longstanding traditions in recruiting."

As usual, when Nick speaks a careful listen is warranted. Consider this well-reasoned observation reported by Potter.

"“… Sometimes we take a sledgehammer to kill a fly and then have some unintended consequences, which we may see here some time in the future.”"

The theory of unintended consequences never loses its rhetorical value, largely because it is so often pertinent. Saban can already see some of the consequences of the December 20-22, Early Signing Period.

There are other issues beyond the still unanswered question of whether the early period harms more than helps high school athletes.  The traditional recruiting calendar is drastically changed by the new period. Player evaluations and player visits will happen sooner, in many cases inside the playing season calendar.

There is the practical issue of the workload of coaches. For most of the year, college football coaches work an intense schedule of 12-16 hour days, almost seven days a week.

At Alabama, Saban prefers the staff takes a much-needed break from mid-June until a couple of weeks ahead of fall camp.

"“We typically, and to be honest with you, as hard as you think I work, I like the fact that from June 17 until July 15, our guys are on vacation,” Saban said. “So, they’re not going to be on vacation, because we’re going to have people visiting and we’re going to be recruiting all during the summer. So, I just don’t think these things have been really well thought out."

Saban’s comment that the change was driven by ‘paranoia that someone has an advantage’ is at the core of this change. Schools not consistently in the top ten in recruiting seek a way to catch up to Alabama and a few other schools.

What schools are better positioned to take advantage of the early signing period? It is the schools that do not make the CFB Playoff.

Eight teams have filled the twelve slots in the first three years of the CFB Playoff. Every season four playoff teams will not have an equal of amount of time to focus on the early signing period.

The teams who frequently compete in the CFB Playoff will have a disadvantage under the new rules. If Alabama is the team most often qualifying for the playoff (as it is so far) then Alabama football will be the team most disadvantaged by the new rules.

Next: The 30 Greatest Games in Alabama football history

A fair claim can be made the new rules are driven by a “we can’t compete with them unless we change the rules” mentality.