Wednesday Begins the Early Signing Period for NCAA Swimming

Beginning Wednesday, November 13th, and running through Wednesday, November 20th, 2013, NCAA-bound swimmers in the class of 2014 will have their first opportunity to sign their National Letters of Intent to attend and swim Division I collegiately in the fall of 2014.

What this means is that the athletes are bound, contractually, to that school for the 2014-2015 season (they always, of course, have the alternative option of none at all, and there’s a few little loopholes), and the schools are contractually bound, for the 2014-2015 season, to provide the student with the agreed-upon scholarship. The verbal commitments that we have been reporting are not binding in any sort of legal sense, though there can be some hurt feelings if one side or the other changes their mind. There’s already been a few public swaps this fall, with reports out of Minnesota that there’s at least one more notable one coming.

While these Letters of Intent signing days aren’t as significant in situations where there are no scholarships involved – Division III, Ivy League, walk-on athletes – but often times there remains a ceremonial signing.

If you sign your National Letter of Intent, for any school, no matter how big or small, next week, please email us a picture to [email protected]!

Where We Stand

In swimming, nearly everyone who’s everyone, among domestic recruits, will sign in the early period. There are very few cases where top recruits hold out until the spring signing period begins (April 16th, 2014), though athletes who wait for their senior state championship meet to make a decision can sometimes see good returns. That’s especially true for ‘late bloomers,’ though they run the risk of coaches spending all of their scholarship money in the fall.

On the girls’ side, the elite ranks are about tapped-out. There are some very good ‘complement’ pieces who we haven’t heard from yet, but don’t expect any of the top 15 teams to make or break their classes with signing-day surprises. There are some solid internationals that may be coming stateside, however, so if we see any of those names pop up, things could shift significantly.

The men’s side, however, is an entirely different story. Three of the top 10 in our class of 2014 rankings are still on the board: Caeleb Dressel from Florida, and Justin Lynch and Corey Okubo from California.

Dressel seems intent on staying close to home, generally in the southeastern United States (though he did take a visit to the University of Texas – his furthest reach geographically). He’s still got a visit to Florida to make before we can expect him to sign a letter.

Lynch, likewise, has made multiple visits close to home in the state of Florida, though his full list isn’t as well-known as Dressel’s is.

Whoever picks either of those two up is guaranteed to shoot up the class rankings by team; especially Dressel, who would make any top 6-7 team in the country an instant title contender in 2015.

Much will be revealed in the next week, and even more will be wrapped up in a nice, neat, ink-signed package. This year’s wild recruiting ride isn’t over yet – rather we’re just approaching the apex, and getting ready for the best part of the whole thing.