April 17th, 2022 by Mike Getman
What is the Signing Date and what does it mean for you?
For College Soccer the signing day is now in mid November. This year the Signing Day was Nov. 14.
This is the 1st day that High School Seniors could sign a scholarship acceptance with Division I or II Universities. Seniors can sign from November up until classes begin at their college. While most Seniors will sign on or near this date, sometimes they take longer. There is no real deadline, although coaches may put a deadline on recruits to make a decision.
When signing day comes, some players will sign a “scholarship” or NLI (National Letter of Intent). Others will be walk-ons, which simply means they are not being offered a scholarship.
Signing day in Football tends to be a day with lots of media attention. In Soccer, there isn’t as much attention, but it is just as important. This is the day that players can officially make their commitment to a University. Once they sign, they cannot change their mind without going through a lot of red tape. Once signed, the University can announce which players will be joining their team.
For coaches, this is the day that they know in which direction their program is moving. If their top choices have “signed”, they know that the future looks good and they can start working on the following years recruiting class.
If signing day didn’t go well, coaches know they will be back on the road recruiting, looking for another player to help their team this coming fall, which can give uncommitted players another chance to be recruited.