The Conference Commissioners Association - the group that runs the National Letter of Intent program - voted Wednesday morning to table a possible early signing period at their annual retreat in Asheville, N.C.
Via ESPN's Jeremy Crabtree:
The question now becomes: if not now, when? An early signing period has been debated for years on end, but this is the closest it has come to passing. Those in the room said there was enough support to move forward with the proposal, but there also wasn't a burning desire to put an early signing date into effect this year. "I think we all took a collective deep breath, took a step back and said, 'Would we be wise to try and do this from a bigger picture type of thing, as opposed to a piecemeal one bit at a time?' There was recognition to sync up this issue with other recruiting related issues that will be examined by the football oversight committee," MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher told ESPN. A likely reason why this year's proposal did not pass: the dates suggested. A three-day period beginning Dec. 16 was seen by some as both too early (before grades are in from the first semester of players' senior year) and too late (during high school playoffs in some states).