Bob Bowlsby sat in a meeting seven months ago with nearly three-quarters of all FBS head coaches, by his estimate, to discuss the transformative package of recruiting legislation that in April was formally approved by the NCAA Division I Council.
As part of that conversation inside a sprawling Nashville resort, the coaches considered the merits of a separately proposed early signing period -- long desired by some in their profession, often debated but rarely a source of agreement. Until January, that is, according to Bowlsby, chair of the Division I Football Oversight Committee and Big 12 commissioner.
He said "just about every hand" rose in support of a three-day December window for prospects to sign letters of intent ahead of the traditional February signing date.
In May, the Collegiate Commissioners Association approved early signing. Then over the summer, as Bowlsby acknowledges, some of its support waned. Nevertheless, it's coming to every campus in America Dec. 20-22, with the promise to reshape just about everything in recruiting.
The most daunting aspect of an early signing period? The unknown. College coaches, at the outset of the 2017 season, don't know exactly what to expect this December.
"The challenge is, recruiting is a very disingenuous process," Bowlsby said. "When you've got one program, on average, making 230 offers but only able to sign 25 players, there's a natural amount of friction -- a type of tension that exists in that system."
Coaches wonder if this 72-hour lead-up to a long Christmas weekend will, in fact, grow quickly to replace February as the preferred time for recruits to sign. How will it impact the already frenzied December calendar as players manage final exams with bowl preparation, and coaches juggle practice time, recruiting travel and on-campus visits?
"I think [early signing] is going to be a positive thing," Arizona State coach Todd Graham said, "but more work for coaches."
And most pressing, it seems, for many teams is what to do with a committed recruit who opts not to sign in December?
"That's a bit of an unknown," said Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, whose team currently owns the No. 1-ranked class with its 16 pledges for 2018. "To say we have a strategy, not yet, but we're in constant conversation of how we're going to do that.
"I guess I would anticipate most of them would sign."
Coaches don't like to guess. Fear of the unknown keeps coaches awake at night. Generally, they like everything planned -- from practice routines, to game day and recruiting scenarios.
Perhaps this looming element of mystery explains, in part, coaches' raising level of wariness about the early signing period.
"Totally against [it]," North Carolina coach Larry Fedora said.
Fedora is not necessarily opposed to early signing. He just doesn't like December. Other coaches, though, despised the idea of offering recruits the opportunity to sign before their senior seasons. The December period emerged as something of a compromise late last year after coaches largely rejected a proposed June signing period.
Even Bowlsby, instrumental on many levels in his role with the oversight committee, as a member of the D-I Council and one of the 10 FBS commissioners who ultimately passed early signing, favors a different early signing period.
"I still think we need to go further," said Bowlsby, quick to admit that no unanimity exists among the legislative or coaching communities on an early signing alternative to December.
So this is what they've got.
"To say we have a strategy, not yet, but we're in constant conversation of how we're going to do that."Ohio State coach Urban Meyer
In addition to the early signing period, early official visits are coming for recruits in the Class of 2019. They'll be allowed to travel to campus -- paid for by the school -- from April 1 of their junior years until the Sunday before the last Wednesday in June.
The D-I Council in April also approved legislation to limit satellite camps and prevent schools from hiring associates of a prospect for a non-coaching position.
But the early signing period might prove to change the game more than the rest of the new rules put together.
"I do believe there's going to be continual change," Stanford coach David Shaw said, "because the things we passed, really no one in my position is really comfortable with, and we're going to have some pushback. This will be an ongoing conversation for the next few years."
Shaw is right, of course. Coaches and administrators will continue to discuss ways to improve the new rules. But how much does that matter for prospects in the Class of 2018 pressed with the choice to sign in December over February?
Not a bit.
"It's going to be real interesting," Kansas coach David Beaty said, "because when there's another day to sign and you're a kid, it would be easy to go, 'You know, I think I'm going to keep looking.' The good thing with that is at least we would know. We would know where to put our resources.
"Because if [a committed recruit] doesn't sign in December, he isn't coming. For the most part, he's not coming to us."
Beaty's program, long a Power 5 doormat, made some waves in this recruiting cycle, landing multiple commitments from Louisiana, including a pair of prospects once ranked in the ESPN Junior 300.
In spite of all the uncertainty about December, Beaty said he's comfortable with the changes. Kansas might alter some of its practices in recruiting, but its priorities remain solid.
"We always say around our place that we're going to continue to recruit everyone, because they're not real until they sign," Beaty said. "We're going to continue to cultivate those relationships -- and keep looking, because somebody wants that opportunity.
"And that's what is really important to us. Do they want to be here?"
December, February or anytime else, nothing matters more in recruiting. Coaches this year would fare well not to lose sight of such simple wisdom.