It's that magical time of year. The air is cold. The snow is falling. There's holiday cheer to spread. And Nick Saban is frustrated by college football's early signing period, which takes place from Dec. 20-22. 

The early signing period is uncharted territory for modern college football. Traditionally, there's a signing period kicked off by National Signing Day in early February. Since this is all new, it's not clear how it will affect certain players. 

Alabama coach Nick Saban has long been a vocal opponent of the early signing period. With the Crimson Tide ready to sign players next week, Saban was asked how his feelings have changed, if at all. What followed was one of Saban's better, more elaborate answers, via AL.com. 

"Two things happen: I see more players getting pressured by some schools to sign early so that they don't get an opportunity from maybe a bigger school later, which I don't think is in the player's best interest," Saban said. "A guy may have an opportunity to go to a place he's always wanted to go to or maybe a SEC school when he's getting pressured by another place to sign early. 

"Then other guys are trying to make a decision about signing early or not signing early," he continued. "And they have all these new coaches and new coaching staffs bum rushing them to get them not to do that so they have a chance to recruit them.

"I have not talked to a coach who's happy with it. Not one." 

Well, it's possible there are coaches who are happy with the new signing period. It just depends whom you ask. As Saban alluded to, coaches of, say, Group of Five or lower-tiered Power Five schools may enjoy an early signing period because they can secure players that have flown under the radar before, say, Alabama finds them. 

There may be players who are happy with it, too, if they know where they want to go and the early period allows them to end the process, secure a spot, and take the stress out of the next couple of months. 

Still, Saban brings up a lot of salient concerns, from the pressure coaches put on players to sign early, to the uncertainty that early signing period places on the February signing date in regards to the number of scholarships available. Recruiting is a lot of scrambling behind closed doors, and while an early signing period may alleviate some of that scrambling, it can add to it in other areas. 

The reality is there's no hard and fast rule saying this person benefits and that person doesn't. But like anything, it creates complications.