Early signing period 2017 date: College football recruits can sign December 20

College football’s new signing period is officially on.

College football’s early signing period was already a formality, but now it’s official. After an NCAA panel signed off on the idea last month, the Collegiate Commissioners Association — a committee of league commissioners — gave the new signing period final approval on Monday, it announced. The early signing period goes into effect this year, making Class of 2018 recruits the first to have the choice of using it.

The signing period will last 72 hours, beginning Dec. 20 and running through Dec. 22. Players who choose to sign early this year can take official visits after their senior year of high school begins, as has been standing NCAA policy. (For future years, the official visit period is slated to move up to April during players’ junior years.)

Players will have the choice of whether to sign in December or wait until the signing period that starts on the first Wednesday of February and runs until April 1. That one’s the traditional period, and it remains to be seen how much luster the February date will lose. That likely depends on how many recruits choose to sign early and how many opt to hold out, creating suspense until February. At any rate, the way fans and media follow recruiting will change a great deal.

Players who graduate early from high school are already allowed to enroll early in college. Those players can sign financial aid papers in the winter, well before the February signing period.

Five-star 2018 defensive end KJ Henry told SB Nation on Sunday that the early period works well with his plan to enroll early, once he picks a school. The other side of this equation: commitments become binding early, so players had better be certain.

“Yeah, I think that’s a great idea, especially, it’s kind of my situation, that’s why this process is taking so long to make sure I have the right decision,” Henry said. “So once I make that decision, I’ll be ready to sign right then and there, and I think it’s a good opportunity to do so.”