New day, new change in the college football world. Already, there has been too much on the fans’ plates to digest. For instance, the college football world is still grappling with the complex concept of NIL. Recently, things got more complicated with the NCAA vs House settlement.
The NCAA will pay nearly $2.8 billion in back damages over the next 10 years to athletes who competed in college at any time from 2016 through the present day. Then came the news that the College Football Playoff is likely to undergo expansion from a 12-team to a 16-team structure. All these were yet to settle in with the fans when came another big update. This time, the signing process of the recruits is going to undergo a major shift.
August 1 brought a major change in the 2026 recruiting cycle. As per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, here comes a new concept in college football known as the “Rolling Signing Day.” On August 7, Rivals tweeted, “NEW: A concept that would allow recruits to sign early is being vetted, ESPN reports The concept would allow recruits to sign early with schools upon accepting binding agreements that are sent out on August 1 .” Here’s how things worked before August 1- the college football recruits, when committed, were allowed to officially receive written NIL and scholarship contracts from their chosen school.
NEW: A concept that would allow recruits to sign early is being vetted, ESPN reports
The concept would allow recruits to sign early with schools upon accepting binding agreements that are sent out on August 1
Read: https://t.co/Ssj8YMnuqb pic.twitter.com/lqMNg8oxwL
— Rivals (@Rivals) August 8, 2025
For the signing part, they had to wait till the official signing period, which is in December or a considerably smaller period in February. This dead period between the commitment and actual signing often leads to college football recruits backing out or changing their mind. Now, what’s the new change all about? As Thamel reported, “The idea: Recruits can currently receive written contract offers on Aug. 1 heading into their senior year. Currently, they can’t formalize the agreements with schools until the December signing period, which means the deals aren’t binding. That leaves uncertainty on both sides.”
From now on, when a college football recruit accepts an offer, they can move forward and sign an agreement that’s binding for both parties. Now, these changes are not new in the college football recruiting world. The 2025 cycle witnessed the elimination of the golden ticket, the National Letter of Intent. But gone are those days when the recruit and the college football recruits, after signing the NLI, were committed to attend the college for one year and got athletic financial aid in return.
The main purpose was to safeguard the college football recruits from getting poached by other programs. Then entered the new binding financial aid agreement and revenue share contract were entered. There are two parts to this “Rolling Signing Day” move. As national insider Adam Gorney pointed out, “Would players feel pressured to get into rev-share deals faster with schools? I think coaches might love it, because they can lock in guys before others can out-bid. What happens when a coach leaves? These are questions that need answers. Does this concept benefit anyone other than coaches that basically just wouldn’t have to deal with bargaining and rev-share anymore?” As if there already wasn’t enough confusion among college football fans. Thanks to Roger Goodell.
Roger Goodell stirs the college football world’s pot with his bold projection
The news was first broken by Puck’s John Ourand. It read, Goodell’s “league could approach networks before the 2029 opt-out and try to renegotiate new deals.” When it comes to the NFL, streaming actually holds a crucial role. We have seen how the pro league got upset and felt undervalued when the NBA shook hands with Comcast’s NBC and Disney’s ESPN for an 11-year deal worth $76 million.
The NFL got what they wished for and signed their long-awaited deal that would give the Disney-owned sports network access to league media properties. The college football world was under the impression that this would not impact them. But then came On3’s tweet on August 5. It read, “NEW: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hinted at the potential launch of a College Football RedZone product on ESPN.” Even though it’s still in the process of materializing, considering the college football landscape, it has its pros and cons.
As Andy Staples shared his views, “The NFL might be the one entity that could make ESPN, Fox, NBC, and CBS play nice enough to even contemplate this. Or maybe it would just be games Disney has rights to, which would exclude the entirety of the Big Ten schedule.” With this, college football conferences like the Big Ten might fall prey to this, as with this College Football RedZone project, ESPN might put all the focus on the major conferences. But at the same time, this move might bring in bigger exposure for smaller schools and underdog programs. The whole college football world is on the edge of its seat, watching for the moment these ideas turn into action.
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