National Signing Day did not die — it may be its most thrilling yet

The NCAA Division I Committee eliminated the National Letter of Intent program on Wednesday, leaving questions about the future of National Signing Day and the college football recruiting calendar. In reality, not much about the tradition of National Signing Day or the recruiting process is changing.

Instead of recruits signing a National Letter of Intent as a binding agreement, they will sign financial aid and revenue share documents. It’s the next step in the evolution of college athletics, as the House v. NCAA settlement is expected to begin July 1, 2025, allowing schools to share up to $22 million in revenue with athletes annually.

Recruits will have on paper what they are expected to earn before signing with a school in the years to come.

“It used to be two separate things,” a Big 12 source told On3. “Sign the dotted line and get the kid in the building. Then figure out the financials. Now they’re combining it into one thing and that is going to fuck up a ton of signings. This is going to turn into a shit show.”

With the new changes, recruits are prohibited from signing multiple valid aid agreements. This means when the athlete signs with an institution, recruiting must stop. The 2025 recruiting class will be the first cycle to earn revenue share in college, however, they won’t sign agreements until after July when the settlement is approved.

“If you got money you’re going to be fine,” another Big 12 source said. “If you don’t? And you’re giving a bunch of lip service to these kids? NSD is where these kids are going to figure out who was telling them the truth and who was full of shit.”

Booster-driven NIL collectives have become imperative to attaining and recruiting talent in the last three years. A Big 12 head coach told On3 this week that this was the first year he felt money was the driving factor in most recruitments.

Multiple sources told On3 that National Signing Day could turn into a financial sweepstakes. If the dollars on paper do not line up, recruits can not sign paperwork and open their recruitment.

“This is the first year that the first, second or third question has been about money,” the Big 12 head coach said. “At the high school level that hasn’t been like that. It is now. Before this year high school recruiting was still pretty old school for the most part but now it’s a lot about money. I think this will be big for them and us.”

National Signing Day calendar not changing

The first signing date is set for Nov. 13 for all sports, except football. College football’s early signing period was moved up this year from mid-December to the week before conference championship games. Early National Signing Day is slated for Wednesday, Dec. 4. February’s National Signing Day is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025.

“Our compliance office says no change as far as timing per the information the NCAA has given them,” an industry source told On3. “Same period just different paperwork.”

Changes are coming to the transfer portal, too. Transfers can now be signed by a new school once their names are in the portal. After a prospect signs, other schools will be prohibited from recruiting communications.

This would make it extremely difficult for players to decommit or flip their recruitments, a major win for college football programs trying to nail down their roster.

“I think the protections that used to be a part of the NLI will now just be in the scholarship (contract) agreements,” a Big Ten source said. “I think the more significant thing will be having the ability to sign transfers.”