Nebraska coach Bo Pelini: It's time to get rid of national signing day

Published Jun. 4, 2014 8:14 p.m. ET

foxsports

There's been a lot talk around college football lately about how to improve the recruiting process.

One topic being kicked around conferences is the idea of implementing an early signing period. Currently, national signing day happens in early February.

There are pros and cons, but the immediate benefit (or hope) is that moving up signing day would end some of the circus that surrounds college football recruiting.

Meanwhile, Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini has an even more creative idea.

Forget moving up signing day, Pelini says, get rid of the concept altogether.

Pelini thinks removing that artificial date and allowing recruits to sign a letter of intent as soon as they're offered a scholarship would fix many of the sport's issues. He told ESPN:

It's an interesting idea, as it would prevent schools from handing out offers to players they really couldn't care less if they sign. They blanket the field to have a security plan in place, and then direct their attention to the recruits they really want.

It would also save time and money for everyone, as programs that received a commitment from a recruit in June wouldn't have to spend the next eight months leading up to signing day continuing to hold off other programs who are trying to steal the recruit away. It's an endless, senseless process.

So maybe Pelini is onto something here. Of course, if that was the system, Alabama might have 20 five-star recruits locked up by now.

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