Villanova Football Recruiting: What to watch for during the new early signing period

At long last, college football has followed college basketball’s model and created an early signing period. Tomorrow (Wednesday) marks the first day high school seniors can sign Letters of Intent, and they’ll have Thursday and Friday to do this as well. This 3-day period precedes that more typical National Signing Day that occurs on the first Wednesday in February.

Here’s a handy video explaining what’s happening:

This is a welcome addition for college football coaches, who typically spend early February (and even the day of!) sweating out whether their verbal commitments will actually sign, or whether they are headed elsewhere (often to a rival!).

This isn’t as common at the FCS level, but we have seen instances in the past - Aaron Forbes being the most notable example - where FBS schools try to poach FCS commits at the eleventh hour.

Many will argue that this new signing period doesn’t really help the players, and they have a point. Many players want to stick it out and see if there will be coaching changes or other scholarship offers, so locking in this early may not be in their best interest. Nefarious coaching plots of rescinding scholarships are few and far between as well.

Still, there will be a handful of players who will take the opportunity to make it official this week, much like their college basketball counterparts.

Here’s the list of Villanova’s known verbal commitments heading into Wednesday’s Early Signing Period.

It’s worth keeping an eye on how many LOIs the Villanova Wildcats staff receives tomorrow. Mikey Taylor has already confirmed that he will sign on Wednesday.

Getting those players secured will allow Mark Ferrante and his staff to prioritize their efforts on the prospects and positions that they need to fill heading into next season.