National Signing Day will actually mean something...

— Excepted Article taken from ON3 Sports Newsletter (Oct.14, 2025 by Pete Nakos)

The NCAA Division I Committee eliminated the National Letter of Intent program last week, 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 f*** up a ton of signings. This is going to turn into a s*** 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 s***."

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."

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