So I'm sure a lot of you guys are wondering - what is a National Letter of Intent? Why is it important? What does it mean?

According to the NCAA website, the NLI is "a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an institution in which the institution agrees to provide a prospective student-athlete who is admitted to the institution and is eligible for financial aid under NCAA rules athletics aid for one academic year in exchange for the prospective student-athlete's agreement to attend the institution for one academic year."

In English, an NLI is a contract between a student-athlete and a university that binds the student-athlete to attend the university for one year in exchange for a year's worth of full tuition, provided the student-athlete is eligible to receive such financial assistance. It sounds complicated, but the form is actually a really simple, two-page document that gets faxed in (welcome back to the 1990s, everyone) to the school, and is signed by the student-athlete.

After some quick research, the actual NLI form is unfortunately not available for download unless you are a member institution of the NCAA (and although I am an institution, I cannot access an "official" NLI...or maybe it's because I belong in an institution...but I digress).

However, I have come across a link that has the actual text of the National Letter of Intent. It can be found here for you to read at your leisure (it's really not that bad; it looks like a complex legal document, but if a former law student like me can get through it, anyone can).

So, starting at 8:00 AM this morning, high school athletes from all over began signing and faxing these documents to the schools of their choice. This is (a representation of) the document that allows these gifted athletes a chance to compete at the highest amateur level of sport, and what causes giant press conferences like the one held yesterday for Marcus Lattimore, a nationally recruited running back from South Carolina. According to a media report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the church where Lattimore held his conference was:

"... expecting a massive turnout this evening at Silver Hill Memorial United Methodist Church in Spartanburg, S.C...The church sent out warnings Monday to come early because it can hold only 600 people and it has far fewer parking places than that. Doors open at 3 p.m. It is said that all of South Carolina will be tuning in." Lattimore ended up committing to the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.

You see, a little two-page document can hold thousands of people captive, and is largely the reason why National Signing Day is such a big deal.

So, as coverage of NSD continues here on H2TheBSOfA, whenever you see an "NLI Alert"...now you know a little bit more about what is going on.