Then again the flip side is that if schools had a "sign now and we're both committed" there would be a lot of high pressure tactics on these students to get them to sign on the spot.
Valid point. But I'm not sure I agree for about 90% of recruits. For a lot of coaching staffs, they throw an "offer" early and then do the real evaluation process. There's maybe only 10% of recruits who coaches would immediately be willing to put out an offer and accept a commit on the spot.
For that 10%, they will have the leverage to explore their options. For the other 90%, they won't be getting that offer and pressure early. It will come at some point, but by then they will have a better handle on where they want to go.
No system is 100% perfect, just like no human enters into a perfect contract for themselves 100% of the time.
But the current process is completely broken, in my opinion.