In April 2017, the NCAA ruled to reinstate an early signing period for college football recruits. It is a three-day period starting on the third Wednesday of December, which is also the early signing period for JUCO prospects. Texas football recruiting was immediately impacted by this newly instituted event each passing December.
Over the past two early signing periods, a good amount of recruits put pen to paper to officially sign with a university. For the 2018 Early Signing Period, 246 of the ESPN Top 300 signed their letter of intent, officially closing out their recruiting process.