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<p>I don’t think this sounds any different than other sports. Most NCAA sports have national signing periods in November of the HS senior year. Some have a second signing period in the spring. Football is the outlier in that it has only a spring signing period.</p>
<p>Perhaps there’s some confusion here between signing national letters of intent, which can happen only in the senior year, and making (non-binding) verbal commitments, which can happen anytime (and can be undone anytime) up until the letter of intent is signed. A quick glance around the web suggests that early verbal commitments are just as common in swimming as in other sports.</p>