Early Signing Day Period Gets Approved, Will Start on December 20

Despite Nick Saban's public stance against an early signing period, the new recruiting timeline has been approved and will begin later this year. 

The Collegiate Commissioners Association voted Monday to enact a 72-hour early signing period that will run from December 20-22. Those dates will coincide with the start of the midyear junior college signing period.

Here's the full release on Monday's decision:

Even though Saban argued strongly against the proposal, it's a bit of a compromise for Alabama's head coach because his primary concern was a summer signing period. He even said last fall that he'd be more for a date after the season was over.

"It creates lots of issues and problems when it comes to, not only evaluation of a guy as a player, but more importantly is evaluation of his character, what kind of person he is, what's his academic status, does he have his academic requirements up to his junior year, what's his test score," Saban said last October. "So you're trying to make decisions about guys way ahead."

Under this new recruiting calendar, high school prospects will be able to begin official visits after April 1 of their junior year. Previously, recruits couldn't take visits until classes started their senior year.

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