Signing Day Winners: Michigan, Texas, USC, Florida State

National Signing Day has almost ended. Creepy twitter trolls, if not already there, will be moving on to the next crop of 17-year-olds. Alabama did what Alabama does, earning the nation’s top class. Every program, to be sure, got all the players the coaches wanted, thinks they brought in talent and character, and is flush with underrated gems. Here are some programs that closed out strong. 

Michigan Wolverines: Jim Harbaugh’s first full class worked out well. Michigan held off Clemson for No. 1 overall prospect Rashan Gary. That’s huge for perception, and winning big games in the trenches. Harbaugh fended off Michigan State for in-state corner Lavert Hill (No. 135 overall) and tight end Devin Asiasi (No. 74 overall).

Interesting is how well Harbaugh’s national strategy worked. Michigan planted a flag in New Jersey, taking five of the state’s top eight recruits. The class had six commits from Florida. Three of their top recruits were from California. Only three kids were from Michigan. None were from Ohio. Under Brady Hoke, that ratio from those two states would have been about 50/50. Expect that strategy to continue. Michigan is holding its first week of spring practice at…IMG Academy in Florida.

Texas Longhorns: The turn around begins for Charlie Strong. The Longhorns vaulted from irrelevant to Top 10 class with 9 four-star commits in the final week. That included flips from LSU (No. 75 overall LB Erick Fowler) and Michigan (No. 115 overall DT Jordan Elliott).  Landing 11 of Texas’ Top 45 is a far better in-state showing.

The Longhorns should be loaded in the front seven on defense. Of course, offense remains a question. Only one of Texas’ six Top 150 commits, No. 117 overall OT Jean Delance, was on that side of the ball.

USC Trojans: The Trojans closed hard, landing six commits to vault their class into the Top 10-15 range. The major stories were two Top 100 recruits. USC fought off Georgia and Auburn for Atlanta-based offensive tackle E.J. Price. (No. 84 overall) They flipped Miami-based safety Jamel Cook from Florida State. As expected, the Trojans landed five-star CB Jack Jones (No. 22 overall). Clay Helton looks to have a little bit of the Sark/Kiffin in him, a good thing on Signing Day.

" Coach Snoop got the exclusive ! @snoopleague alum n @LBPoly_Football 5-star recruit @presidentjacc announcement !!https://t.co/QaMtKEDgYf — Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) February 3, 2016 "

Florida State Seminoles: Surprise, surprise. The Noles left it late, with a number of key commitments picking on Signing Day. They got almost every play they were in for. Four of them were Top 100 overall recruits. The star of the class is CB Levonta Taylor from Virginia Beach (No. 7 overall). Five-star defensive backs have a very high success rate.

TCU Horned Frogs: Big 12 success has been paying off for Gary Patterson. The Horned Frogs signed eight four-star recruits in 2016. They had seven, combined, in the last four classes.

For more videos and insight into one of the biggest days in HS and College football visit USA TODAY High School Sports national signing day hub.