National Signing Day most commonly refers to a day in February, usually on the first Wednesday of that month, which is the first day that a high school senior

Twelfth grade

Twelfth grade or Senior year, or Grade Twelve, are the North American names for the final year of secondary school. In most countries students then graduate at age 17 or 18. In some countries, there is a thirteenth grade, while other countries do not have a 12th grade/year at all...

 can sign a binding National Letter of Intent

National Letter of Intent

The National Letter of Intent is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating NCAA colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manages the daily operations of the NLI program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association provides...

 for college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 with a school that is a member of the NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

, the main governing body for college sports

College athletics

College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Although all NCAA sports have at least one National Signing Day, and most have two, college football's version is by far the most widely followed by fans and sports media.

The growing popularity over time of National Signing Day has had a marked impact on media coverage of young players and on loyal fans' expectations.

Impact on players

National Signing Day has become a phenomenon for the athletes being recruited as well. For the players, it is their chance at their very own 15 minutes of fame

15 minutes of fame

15 minutes of fame is short-lived, often ephemeral, media publicity or celebrity of an individual or phenomenon. The expression was coined by Andy Warhol, who said in 1968 that "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." The phenomenon is often used in reference to...

. They have millions of people paying attention to them and their decision, and many of them take advantage of that limelight for their own enjoyment. “The hype over football recruiting has gotten so popular that some top high school stars are holding nationally televised press conferences to announce their decision between National Football Powerhouse U and National Football Powerhouse State.”. One such situation involved offensive lineman Antonio Logan-El. Highly recruited out of high school, Logan-El initially verbally committed to the University of Maryland

University of Maryland, College Park

The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

. On National Signing Day in 2006, he held a nationally televised press conference at the ESPN Zone

ESPN Zone

ESPN Zone is a Southern California-based chain of two sports-themed restaurants that include arcades, TV studios, and radio studios that are currently franchised, but formally owned by the American cable network ESPN. The first ESPN Zone opened in Baltimore, Maryland, on July 11, 1998, in the Power...

 in Baltimore

Baltimore

Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...

. He invited Terps’ head coach Ralph Friedgen

Ralph Friedgen

Ralph Harry Friedgen is an American football coach. He was the head coach at the University of Maryland from 2001 to 2010. Friedgen was previously an offensive coordinator at Maryland, Georgia Tech, and in the National Football League with the San Diego Chargers...

’s wife to the event and was wearing a red (UMD’s primary color) tie. “He then pulled out a photo of himself with Penn State coach Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno

Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...

 and announced he was going to play for the legend in Happy Valley, sending a dagger into the hearts of Maryland fans.". While this situation is a departure from the norm, it shows the kind of impact the glitz and glamour of National Signing Day can have on not only the athletes, but the loyal fan bases that follow the hundreds of NCAA football programs as well.

Political Impact

Politically, National Signing Day has an effect in that head coaches are lobbying, in a way, for the athletes to commit to them and their programs. It is also very political in terms of programs and coaches competing against one another for the athletes commitment. Some coaches will do whatever it takes to get an athlete to commit, including unethical and illegal tactics. A number of schools have faced questions about recruiting practices in light of recent scandals involving such activities as payments to players, players families, on campus events, etc. all designed to secure signatures, the most recent surrounding Auburn star and Heisman trophy winner Cam Newton

Cam Newton

Cameron Lemark Newton is a former American football safety. He played college football at Furman University, then played two seasons in the NFL, one each for the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers. He was cut from the Panthers before the 2007 season...

. Other notable event include those at The University of Colorado early last decade which resulted in self-imposed recruiting standards,http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=17957556&site=ehost-live as well as the questions that arose around the recruitment of OJ Mayo to USC which ultimately felled their coach Tim Floyd

Tim Floyd

Tim Floyd is an American college basketball coach and the current head coach of the University of Texas at El Paso Miners men's basketball team. He is also a former head coach of several teams in both the NCAA and the NBA, most recently the University of Southern California men's college...

.