Early Signing Period

A couple of days ago, I discussed Pitt receiving early verbal commitments from 2 real good prospects from the Eastern Pennsylvania region. Pitt has received a multitude of verbal commitments up to this point. Some schools like Texas and even Ohio State are just about finished their recruiting on the Class of 2011 prior to the players even playing a single down during their senior campaigns. The recruitment is early and furious. The big time collegiate programs want to know who the top Sophomores are before they compete in their Junior year. Therefore, in my humble opinion, an early signing period should be instituted for college football. Basketball has it sometime in November and it lasts for one week. If the prospects signs during that period, it is a national letter of intent. The player is committed to that institution. The same should be done for football. An early signing period should be employed. I am not versed enough to choose the one week period, but it should fall somewhere prior to the beginning of high school football practice. If the high school player signs during that period, then he is bound to the institution he signed with. In football, there is a noticeable amount of high school players that verbally commit, then de-commit and verbally commit to another school. Signing early eliminates this and will actually open up more doors for the prospects that did not sign early. What I cannot figure out is how the rules and regulations of the NCAA allow basketball players to have an early signing period but this does not apply for football. There needs to be consistency.