"Sometimes you get in the habit of just doing things because that’s the way you’ve always done them. Sometimes it’s O.K. to sit back and say, 'Is there a better way of doing things? Is it tradition or best practices?'" That's Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez questioning the wisdom of having a National Signing Day in an interview with Sports Illustrated. Rodriguez is a member of the American Football Coaches Association's board of trustees, and he thinks there's enough merit to the idea of scrapping signing day altogether that he's going to bring it up with his colleagues this offseason.

With four-star linebacker Roquan Smith deciding not to sign a National Letter of Intent, much of the conversation about recruiting reform has centered around getting rid of or drastically altering the document. But Rodriguez and SI's Andy Staples submit that perhaps it's not the NLI that's the problem but everything else about how the recruiting process is currently set up.

What if prospects could sign at any time following an offer from the school — not just after the first Wednesday in February of their senior season — instantly locking both sides into an agreement of at least one academic year beyond the enrollment date. Schools would, in theory, be much more selective in doling out offers, and players would be slower to commit. Because in this case, to commit would be to sign and forfeit your right to negotiate with other schools.

"If somebody has offered a kid, let him sign, it's over," former Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini told ESPN.com in June 2014. "That will stop some of the things that are happening -- people just throwing out offers, some of them with really no intention of taking a kid."

Such a set-up might have prevented the one that Irmo (S.C.) Dutch Fork running back Matt Colburn found himself in two days before National Signing Day. Louisville pulled his original offer at the 11th hour and replaced it with an invitation to greyshirt. Though he eventually ended up signing with Wake Forest, Colburn had to scramble to find a new school because Louisville had let its class fill up.