National Letter of Intent Early Signing Period: 11/9 - 11/16

Brannon Champagne signs
Letter of Intent

Believe it or not, there is news this week that rivals the MIZ-SEC move in terms of importance to Missouri Baseball.  In fact, that official SEC announcement couldn't have come at a better time for MU's recruits that are still on the fence.

Today is the opening day for the Early Signing Period for National Letter of Intent.

We'll be tracking and report signings as the next week progresses.  Take a look at the verbal commitments we've already reported on.

If you have knowledge of a signee that we miss, please drop us a line at simmonsfield@hotmail.com.

♦ National Letter of Intent (ncaa.org)

NLI Signing Dates for Prospective Student-Athletes Enrolling 2012-2013:  Baseball, November 9-16

♦ National Letter of Intent reminders (InformedAthlete.com)

Coaches are not permitted to deliver the National Letter of Intent in person. Also, coaches are not permitted to be present when the prospect signs the NLI. The family of a prospect will sometimes ask if the coach can be present so they can get a picture together when their son or daughter signs the NLI. This is ok for Junior Colleges or NAIA schools, but not for NCAA coaches.

Read more at http://www.informedathlete.com/national-letter-of-intent-reminders

♦ History of the National Letter of Intent (ncaa.org)

The program was created in 1964 by a group of seven conferences, chaired by J. William Davis, a retired professor and faculty athletics representative at Texas Tech. The original intention was to curb recruiting excesses that began when college sports became a national endeavor with the increased television exposure of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Stories of schools luring away a football player even after he was enrolled on another campus paint a picture of the intensity of recruiting in this period.

To stop such behavior, some conferences formed a plan to issue “letters of intent,” documents recognized only within a conference that would keep other conference coaches from recruiting a student-athlete once he declared his intent to participate at a specific school. The plan worked well within the conferences that adopted the policy, but the effect was limited because it was not national in scope. Several attempts to codify the letter of intent nationally through the NCAA failed.

The Collegiate Commissioners Association developed a voluntary inter-conference letter of intent program, operated through conference offices. The “National Letter of Intent” certified that a student-athlete would attend an institution for one academic year. The form was signed by the prospect and his parent or guardian. The institution was required to offer an award of athletics financial aid to make the letter of intent valid. Recruits were informed of the recruiting rules from that point on and told that if they didn’t hold up their end of the deal, their athletics eligibility would be limited.

Read more at http://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/2011-02-02/history-national-letter-intent