When is National Signing Day in college football 2024?

The National Signing Day of 2024 for college student-athletes will be conducted from February 7 to April 1, 2024, for DI athletes. For DII athletes, there is a longer time frame to work with, until August 1.

With multiple top programs settling in with new head coaches, and top players leaving for the NFL Draft, bringing in the best recruits will be a top priority for coaches throughout the country.

Especially with names like USC commit Julian Lewis and more still unsure about their college home, National signing day is set to be filled with twists and turns.

National Signing Day is when student-athletes from high school can sign a national letter of intent that binds them to their chosen program. This day is usually the first Wednesday of February.

While college recruiters do obtain verbal commitments from various student-athletes, these are not binding in any way and the signing day therefore takes on greater importance.

College football being one of the most popular sports in the country gets most of the spotlight for this day. It also has an extra Signing Day during the third week of December where early recruits get to sign their NLIs.

The student-athletes then get to sign their national letters of intent a full month and a bit before their peers.

The signing days are such a big deal that they are shown on networks like ESPN and CBS.

History of National Signing Day

Initially, conferences had student-athletes sign letters of intent during the first Saturday of December until 1981. These letters restricted athletes to only signing for one program within any specific conference.

This was overturned by the College Football Association which mandated a singular day for signing, giving birth to the modern iteration of the practice. These NLIs restricted athletes to signing with only one program in the NCAA.

Early National Signing Day

This year's early National Signing Day will be on December 20-22 and the student-athletes will enroll for the Spring semester.

The early signing of the National Letter of Intent allows prospects to start preparations with their new teams early in time for the new season.

The staff of various sports also get to assess the prospects recruited and build concrete relationships with them before the season begins.

The National Letter of Intent

The national letter of intent was created by the Collegiate Commissioners Association. Although it is not used by all programs and is not commissioned by the NCAA, it is signed by 48,000 student-athletes annually.

National Signing Day is one of the most exciting days for college sports fans as they take stock of the prospects who commit to playing all types of sports for their institutions.

The National Letter of Intent, while binding, can be gotten out of as many prospects usually de-commit and sign for other programs for a variety of reasons. For instance, prospect Dylan Raiola could potentially switch to Nebraska from Georgia.