(STATS) - The use of college football's early signing period grew in December among high school seniors.

The three-day signing period rose particularly in the FCS, where NCAA data indicates a nearly 17 percent increase of signings, from 675 during the first early period in 2017 to 811 this past Dec. 19-21. There were 1,825 early signings in the FBS, an increase of over 3 percent from the first year of the December period.

The early signing period has made the traditional signing period, which begins the first Wednesday in February and continues through April 1, somewhat anticlimactic on the FBS level, but there is plenty of signings remaining in the FCS.