Welcome to the first days of the rest of your college football recruiting lives.
This year will mark the last that National Signing Day is just one day. For the next signing class, there will be multiple days from which to choose. The NCAA recently decided to add a three-day window in December to the first Wednesday in February for high school football players to sign letters of intent.
And while football coaches - men who love routine - will have to retool their entire recruiting strategy to account for that new period, many of them, from schools large and small, are in support of it.
The American Football Coaches Association unanimously endorsed the move, one that can relieve some of the burden from the student-athletes when it comes to making that decision.
West Virginia State football coach John Pennington has seen the weight of that burden for years as an assistant at WVU Tech, Concord and WVSU. Kids are planning their futures, and the future of their educations, for as many as five years. It's not a decision to take lightly.
"What I've found is that these young men are very stressed by this whole process," Pennington said minutes after introducing his first Yellow Jackets signing class. "This is the first decision that they've ever had to make that's for themselves. They struggle with that. Usually, they're very relieved by the time the first Wednesday in February gets here. So I think a lot of them will be glad just to get it done in December and wrap it up a little earlier."
And don't think the kids are alone in feeling anxiety. Coaches feel it just as much, though they feel it every time a recruit hems, haws or wavers. The recruits' football seasons wrap up in December, the college football season concludes at the start of January, and that leaves a month for doubt to creep in.
Minds can change in that period, even on signing day itself. Four-star running-back prospect Cordarrian Richardson sent a camera to space on Wednesday to announce he was picking Maryland. On Thursday, the University of Central Florida announced it received his letter of intent.
Give a recruit the chance to sign in December, and there may not be as much flip-flopping. WVU coach Dana Holgorsen is all for it.
"That month long babysitting stage doesn't exist, kids don't get bored and want to go take some more trips just because they can," Holgorsen said. "It's going to make things a little bit more tolerable from a recruiting perspective."
Holgorsen thinks the process can be streamlined even further. Recruits now get five official visits before they sign. Holgorsen doesn't think they need that many.
"Why does a kid really need five visits?" Holgorsen asked. "You can narrow it down to three pretty easy. If you limit those guys to three, they can figure out where they want to go. They take three in-season visits and make their decision in December."
Not every coach is too jazzed about it. Marshall coach Doc Holliday made a valid point for all the football coaches like him who recruit their talent from areas beyond their immediate one. Those schools can use the extra month to bring in visitors and, if most of their most-desired prospects are locked in by December, that leaves a smaller crop for some programs.
That might not hurt some major colleges. Lubbock, Texas, and Ames, Iowa, aren't exactly major metropolises, but the lure of playing for a Big 12 school could make those trips feel a lot shorter. But Bowling Green, Kentucky, where Western Kentucky sits, or Ruston, Louisiana for Louisiana Tech? Those schools could use the extra time.
Now this new frontier begs another question: Does a December signing period end the circus, or does it just add a matinee show before February? A December signing period doesn't guarantee that prospects won't continue pulling hats from rows of several or offering their commitments via drone. If anything, it just spaces things out.
But will recruits now flock to the December signing date to ensure there's a spot for them on the roster they desire? Will the top-flight prospects still wait until February, because they know coaches will covet their talents any time of the year?
Those questions can only be answered by experience as we all enter this uncharted recruiting territory. At least the coaches don't sound like they'll be heartbroken if the circus folds up its tents.
Contact Derek Redd at 304-348-1712 or derek.redd@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekredd.