'1,000% Opposed': Mike Elko and Steve Sarkisian Firmly Against New Early Signing Proposal

Texas A&M Aggies coach Mike Elko and Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian agree on one thing - moving up Early Signing Day is a bad idea.

Jul 18, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports

Last month, college commissioners agreed to table a vote that would have changed college recruiting - and potentially high school football - forever.

Under the new proposal, the Early Signing Period would have been moved up from December to June, allowing recruits to sign letters of intent before the start of the senior seasons.

Fortunately, there is no timetable for decision makers to resume discussions on the idea.

Nevertheless, it is still on the minds of many college head coaches, including Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko, and Texas Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian, both of whom stand firmly against the proposal.

Jul 18, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko speaking at Omni Dallas Hotel. Mandatory Credit: Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports / Brett Patzke-USA TODAY Sports

“I am 1,000% opposed to that,” Elko said at the Texas High School Coaches Association Convention on Monday. “If you add a summer signing date, I think you run the risk of creating more kids wanting to reclassify and skip their senior year of high school. If you look at what happened when we moved the signing date to December, now 80 percent of the kids enroll in the spring. If you project that out and move the signing date to June, I think over the course of three, four, five years, you are going to start having 50, 60, 70 percent of the kids reclassifying.”

Sarkisian echoed those sentiments, noting that much of a player's development can come after their junior season and into their senior seasons.

He also believes that the current recruiting calendar, which has the Early Signing Period coming before the opening of the NCAA Transfer Portal in December, protects high school players, unlike in years past.

"I'm quite frankly hesitant about the summer signing period. I think you learn a lot about players in their senior year, " Sarkisian said. "Development is so critical from ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade. Sometimes we're passing judgment on kids coming off a junior year, and sometimes even in his junior year maybe he was injured. How do you pull all that together? I think there's an avenue we can get done." 

"I kind of like the calendar we're having this year with that signing period in early December and then get into the portal. Because I still think we're protecting the high school player. Last year the high school player was not protected... Some schools were dropping the high school kids to take the portal kid. Now we're protecting the high school kid in early December and then we can get ourselves into the portal."

In essence, at the end of the day, both Elko and Sarkisian believe in the same thing - they want what is best for the players and their future.

And fortunately, that appears to be whats in place for the foreseeable future.