When is National Signing Day for football

The first early National Signing Day began in December of 2017. The three-day early signing window would start on the third Wednesday of the month. However, the date will be changing for 2025 prospects during this recruiting cycle.

After a change to the recruiting calendar this spring, the early period of National Signing Day for Division I football will open on Dec. 4 and close on Dec. 6. During this time, high school football recruits may sign their National Letters of Intent — locking them in with their college of choice.

The traditional National Signing Day period will take place on Feb. 5, 2025.

Historically, the majority of the country’s top football prospects sign with their schools of choice during the National Signing Day early period.

In March, NCAA officials voted to move up the winter football signing day to earlier in December before the NCAA Transfer Portal opens. By moving the early signing period up, it would allow coaches to lock in their early signees before the transfer portal window opens – a big topic of conversation this past December.

“The biggest reason we’re doing this is to clear up the football recruiting calendar so the signing period and the transfer portal don’t overlap,” Big Sky commissioner Tom Wistrcill told The Athletic. “The feedback we’ve received from all coaches is that December is a mess. Especially with the expansion of the CFP coming next year, that just creates more chaos in December. This should help.”

What is a National Letter of Intent?

Per the NLI program — managed by the NCAA and governed by the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) — the NLI is a “voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the NLI and no institution is required to join the program

“The NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution. A prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the institution full-time for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters). The institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).

“The penalty for not fulfilling the NLI agreement: A student-athlete has to serve one year in residence (full-time, two semesters or three quarters) at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports.”