NCAA proposal to halt early football commitments

The days of powerhouse football programs loading up with early commitments from high school juniors may soon come to an end. Nick Saban couldn't be happier. In the SEC, Alabama and LSU lead the way with dou­ble-figure commitments for the Class of 2011. Yet the two Southern powers don't have anything on Texas, which stands at 22 and counting eight months be­fore signing day .But an NCAA proposal to prohibit scholarship offers until July 1 for rising seniors could curtail the practice of landing commitments so early. Saban is on the record ap­proving the legislation, say­ing a later date would help college coaches better eval­uate talent. And he's not alone. "If this happens, it will be one of the best things to happen to recruiting in a long time," said Tom Lugin­bill, ESPN's lead recruiting analyst. "It would allow coaches to truly go through the evaluation process with all the pertinent informa­tion. "Right now, coaches are forced to offer so early just to be in the running for the top prospects."