Winners And Losers From College Football's Early Signing Period

College football opened its second annual early signing period on Wednesday and there were a flurry of commits, flips and big-time signings.

Here’s a look at the winners and losers from college football’s early signing day from 2018.

Winner: Alabama

Yeah, I know, shocking right? Alabama was a big winner during the early signing period. The Crimson Tide currently have the top class (again) on the 247 composite and got even stronger on Wednesday.

Nick Saban’s squad saw 23 players sign letters of intent on Tuesday, that includes 11 of the nation’s top 100 players. The Tide landed signing day commitments from the nation’s No. 1 running back (Trey Sanders), No. 5 offensive tackle (Evan Neal) and No. 6 safety (Jordan Battle) who they flipped from Ohio State.

The Tide did face one defection, Daxton Hill, the nation’s top safety, flipped to Michigan at the last minute. Even in taking that hit, Alabama just rolled. It’s looking like yet another No. 1 recruiting class will be in the bag for Saban and company as the rich continue to get richer.

Loser: The Pac-12

While other conferences are reeling in big-time recruits and prepping for a big College Football Playoff check, the Pac-12 continues to wallow in mediocrity. The conference currently has one team with a recruiting class in the top 14 and has reeled in just one five-star player. Yes, that’s right, one five-star for the entire conference.

Oregon (more on them later) and Washington have solid classes, but the rest of the conference is struggling to attract talent. USC, which you can usually Sharpie in for a top-five class, is coming off a 5-7 season and a ton of coaching staff upheaval. Throw in Clay Helton’s blazing hot seat and recruiting has suffered big time. The Trojans have several highly ranked targets who will commit later on in the process, so they could still salvage their class.

Then there’s UCLA which currently has the 49th-ranked class in the nation. Despite Chip Kelly’s offensive pedigree, the Bruins have been unable to gain traction with top-level talent. To date, UCLA has signed just one recruit rated four stars or better.

Times are tough in the Pac-12 in the big-money sports.

Winner: Ohio State

Ohio State’s day wasn’t a grand slam, but the Buckeyes nailed a bunch of top targets. While they currently have the 12th-ranked class nationally, that’s mostly because they only have 16 committed players. That number includes three five-star guys and eight four stars.

On Wednesday, Ohio State took home one one of the biggest prizes on the market in top-ranked defensive end Zach Harrison. His commitment was a huge boost to the program. Five-star wideout Garrett Wilson and five-star offensive lineman Harry Miller round out the marquee names in the class.

Ohio State did see four-star quarterback Dwan Mathis flip to Georgia on Wednesday, but that came on the heels of a report that highly-touted transfer Justin Fields could be headed to Columbus.

I’m factoring in the Fields news as part of the signing day haul because it would certainly lessen the blow of losing Mathis. On top of that, if Fields was a recruit this year, he might be the top player in the nation and would almost certainly be the No. 1 quarterback.

All-in all, new head coach Ryan Day has the makings of a fantastic first recruiting class.

Loser: Miami

Right now Miami’s class is a mess. The Hurricanes surprised a lot of observers when they finished eighth in last year’s recruiting rankings, but that success has not carried over to this class.

Mark Richt’s class currently sits at 38th, behind such traditional powers as Minnesota, Kentucky and Arizona State. The Hurricanes currently sit just two spots ahead of Indiana. And yes, Indiana does have a football program. The Hoosiers have uniforms and everything.

Not only did Miami fail to secure top talent on Wednesday, it had to watch as in-state talent went elsewhere. Four-star Lakeland teammates Keon Zipperer and Lloyd Summerall opted for Florida in what was a huge blow to the Hurricanes.

Miami currently has just one top 100 player signed and only four in the top 300.

Richt and co. have to scramble if they want to salvage what is currently a lackluster class.

Winner: Oregon

While they didn’t pick up any big-name commits on Wednesday, the Ducks sealed the deal with their top prospects and get them signed.

Oregon currently has the No. 5 class in the nation and the top class in the Pac-12. Head coach Mario Cristobal has always been an elite recruiter, and he put that on display this cycle. He took advantage of USC and UCLA’s struggles to dip into California and snag a ton of top talent.

The Ducks have signed seven players in the top 150 nationally, and six of the top 22 players from California. The class is headlined by the nation’s No. 2 overall recruit Kayvon Thibodeaux, a dynamic defensive end from Oaks Christian High School in Thousand Oaks, CA.

Cristobal will soon have a ton of talent to work with, now he has to prove he can actually coach them up. He’ll need to dramatically improve his career record of 35-52 or he won’t see results like this much longer.

Loser: Florida State

Like their rival, the Seminoles did not have a good day. Florida State’s class currently ranks 14th in the nation, but they currently don’t have any top 100 recruits signed. Five-star cornerback Akeem Dent and four-star safety Nick Cross are within the top 100, but neither opted to sign on Wednesday.

Both Dent and Cross could still wind up in Tallahassee, but anyone who hasn’t signed is sure to get a ton of attention from other programs over the next few weeks. That’s always dangerous.

In fact, a total of five four-star commits remain unsigned, which means they’re fair game to be poached by other programs.

Willie Taggart also sat back and watched as four-star quarterback commit Sam Howell flipped to North Carolina. The Seminoles don’t have another quarterback in this year’s class and are now left scrambling to fill that void. At the same time, Deondre Francois will test the NFL Draft waters, and has the option of being a grad transfer who could move to another school (though he just said he could also return to Florida State).

If Taggart can lock down the commits who remain unsigned and find a quarterback, this class could wind up being fine. But the early signing period was definitely a disappointment for the Seminoles.