You can agree to just about anything...

I can still hear Prof. Lynch, my contracts professor at John Marshall, utter these words over and over again.  When studying contracts, we typically take a look at what happens in the court system when a particular term is left out or vague.  Prof. Lynch was always quick to point out that (insert situation here) would be quite different had the parties agreed to that particular term.  So a question like "what does the contract say" becomes paramount.  And, a contract can be simply your agreement to be bound to a set of rules, which is apparently exactly what a letter of intent it.

Tomorrow is National Signing Day for high school students being recruited by colleges.  You've seen the (silly) tv broadcasts where multiple hats sit in front of a player and he puts one on to show where he's going to be playing in the fall.  Those students then fax their "letter of intent" to that school and coaches pat themselves on the back.

Knowing from contracts that minors cannot be bound by their contracts, I have always wondered what teeth these letters actually have against the recruits.  After all, you always hear a story or two about a player changing his mind late in the game; what's the point in this signing day business, then?

I did a little digging, and found this great write-up on Letters of Intent here.  While not a lengthy article, the author does answer my questions about enforcement.  Basically, the letter of intent business is sort of a treaty between NCAA schools (minus service academies and ivy league) that they won't poach each other's recruits after the final signing day.  If the student backs out on their letter, schools further agree to certain provisions to "punish" the student.

Interesting to me, since the big hoopla is really little more than a protection to recruits from further harassment by Big College.

JD

John D. Duncan is president of J.D. Duncan, PC, founding partner of Prater, Duncan & Craig, LLC in Newnan, Georgia, and is Esquire by Day.  You can find him at www.jdduncanlaw.com, or follow him on twitter and Facebook.