TYLER, Texas — For the fifth straight year, East Texas high school and junior college student-athletes are getting the chance to take advantage of Early National Signing Day.
This is the early period where student-athletes will sign their National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play collegiate athletics.
The NCAA manages the daily operations of the NLI program while the Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA) provides governance oversight of the program. The program, which started in 1964 with seven conferences and eight independent institutions, now includes 657 Division I and Division II participating institutions.
The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the NLI and no institution is required to join the program.
The NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution:
- A prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the institution full-time for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
- The institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
If a student-athlete does not fulfill his or her NLI agreement, he or she has to serve one year in residence (full-time, two semesters or three quarters) at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports.
An important provision of the NLI program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs the NLI. This prohibition requires member institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once an NLI is signed with another institution.
CBS19 is all over the Piney Woods today capturing the moments which will kick off some of the best years of these students' lives.
TYLER LEGACY
- Jamarion Miller – Alabama (Football)
- Bryson Donnell – Texas Tech (Football)
- Aaron Sears - SFA (Football)
TYLER HIGH
- Kendell Howard - Detroit Mercy (Soccer)
GILMER
- Brandon Tennison - UTSA (Football)
- Jay Rockwell - Sam Houston (Football)
WHITEHOUSE
- Alyssa Navarro - Hardin-Simmons (Golf)
- Colton Eikner - Texas A&M-Texarkana (Baseball)
- Easton Mayo - Southwestern College (Basketball)
- Susanna Moran - College of the Ozarks (Basketball)
- Kylee Freeman - LeTourneau (Soccer)
RUSK
- Owen McCown - Colorado (Football)
TYLER JUNIOR COLLEGE
- Kobe Savage - Kansas State (Football)
- Xavier Benson - Oklahoma State (Football)
- Nick Rempert - Tulsa (Football)
CBS19 will be updating this list throughout the day.
If you know of a student-athlete who is signing, please email the following information to CBS19's Reagan Roy at RRoy@CBS19.tv:
- Student-athlete's name
- Picture
- Name of high school/junior college
- Sport
- College they're signing with