For every sport other than basketball and football, Wednesday, November 13 marks the initial signing date for prospective student-athletes signing in 2024-25 for the purpose of college enrollment in 2025-26.
This year’s date could mark the last “national signing day,” at least officially, ever, given the imminent changes coming to the NCAA in the aftermath of the House settlement.
Given those changes, the NCAA announced in October that it is removing the National Letter of Intent (NLI) Program moving forward.
Previously, the NCAA regulated when prospective student-athletes could sign an NLI, which is the binding agreement between an athlete and an NLI member institution in Division I or Division II. There had previously been a week-long “Early” Signing Period that began the second Wednesday in November, followed by a “Regular” Signing Period that stretched, for most sports, from February to August. In 2018, the NCAA instituted changes to the recruiting timetable and the two signing periods have now been joined, in all sports except football and basketball.
The final signing date for the class of 2025 is August 1, 2025.
Prior to the official signing date, prospective student-athletes send their verbal commitments to schools, but November 13 marks the date those signings become official.
Below, check out our top 20 ranked recruits in the class of 2025 and where they’ve committed.
GIRLS TOP 20
| Rank | Swimmer | Commitment |
| 1 | Alex Shackell | Defer |
| 2 | Teagan O’Dell | Cal |
| 3 | Claire Weinstein | Cal |
| 4 | Madi Mintenko | Virginia |
| 5 | Haley McDonald | Texas |
| 6 | Grace Rabb | Florida |
| 7 | Lilla Bognar | Florida |
| 8 | Annie Jia | Cal |
| 9 | Elle Scott | Cal |
| 10 | Kennedi Dobson | Georgia |
| 11 | Lily King | NC State |
| 12 | Addie Robillard | Stanford |
| 13 | Raya Mellott | Virginia |
| 14 | Lynsey Bowen | Florida |
| 15 | Alana Berlin | Stanford |
| 16 | Bella Brito | USC |
| 17 | Julie Mishler | Louisville |
| 18 | Chloe Kim | Princeton |
| 19 | Ella Cosgrove | Cal |
| 20 | Annam Olasewere | Stanford |
BOYS TOP 20
| Rank | Swimmer | Commitment |
| 1 | Maximus Williamson | Virginia |
| 2 | Thomas Heilman | Virginia |
| 3 | Luke Ellis | Indiana |
| 4 | Nathan Szobota | Virginia |
| 5 | Jason Zhao | Stanford |
| 6 | William Mulgrew | Harvard |
| 7 | Sean Green | Georgia |
| 8 | Josh Bey | Indiana |
| 9 | Thomas Mercer | Virginia |
| 10 | Marvin Johnson | Florida |
| 11 | Max Carlsen | NC State |
| 12 | Noah Cakir | Indiana |
| 13 | Blake Amlicke | Virginia |
| 14 | Campbell McKean | Texas |
| 15 | Crash Ackerly | Yale |
| 16 | Ethan Ekk | Stanford |
| 17 | Gavin Keogh | NC State |
| 18 | Caiden Bowers | Cal |
| 19 | Jordan Willis | Florida |
| 20 | Alex Thiesing | Michigan |
Stay tuned as later today we’ll publish SwimSwam’s full class of 2025 recruiting database.
Alex Shackell will go to Virginia. That’s the tea!
Addressed to Kate Douglass, Alex Walsh, Gretchen Walsh:
Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to convince Alex Shackell to sign a national letter of intent with the University of Virginia for the 2025-2026 NCAA Season while at the 2024 Short Course World Championships. If your mission has been compromised, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This message will self-destruct in five seconds.
love all the Virginia on here!
Can’t wait for the Virginia men to get 17th at NCAAs again 😊
Say it while you can. Just like UVA women in 2018. I look forward to multiple NCAAs.
UVA Women were 9th in 2018 not 17th
Perfect, yes. Same trajectory coming.
virginia has had a recruiting class just like this one before, and their highest finish was 9th. they got their program figured out on the women’s side but not the men’s side (also when gretchen beats all the guys in practice it’s a little concerning)
A little thin on the women’s side especially with the departures of A. Walsh, A. Keating, M. Parker, G. Walsh, R. Tiltmann, E. Bathurst.