Oregon Public Broadcasting

The next official college football game is seven months away, but Wednesday was a big day in the sport.

National signing day is the first day that high school football-playing seniors can officially pick their colleges.

Ethan Lindsey reports.

College football teams spend a lot of time and money recruiting high school prospects.

Recruits help determine how good a team is in 3 or 4 years.

And the best high schoolers can make a difference right away.

More than 20 high school, and junior college, athletes picked Oregon State University.

Oregon pulled in more than 20 future Ducks.

Oregon’s head coach is Mike Bellotti -- he's announced he will step down in the next few years.

Mike Bellotti: “I’ve told these young men that I will not be their head coach their entire career, and I wanted to make sure they were comfortable with that.”

Fewer than 10 of the state’s prep stars announced they would be attending schools outside of Oregon, including the Air Force Academy, Boise State, and California.