Another busy National Signing Day is in the books and with that there are winners and losers on the day. Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney takes a look.
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WINNERS
Arkansas
Talk about an unexpected winner coming out of signing day. Adding versatile four-star Ja’Kayden Ferguson was big early on but later in the day word started leaking out that four-star QB Madden Iamaleava and three-star flex receiver Jace Brown weren’t going to sign with UCLA and Arkansas would be the destination. Iamaleava is one of the nation’s best QBs and seemingly fell into the Razorbacks’ lap late.
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Auburn
On a FaceTime call with Deuce Knight, Auburn coach Hugh Freeze showed off a big smile, something that has been rare through a grueling 5-7 season. But the Tigers kept Knight from flipping to Ole Miss, they kept four-star DE Jared Smith from going to Ole Miss or South Carolina, they kept four-star DB Donovan Starr from flipping to Alabama and they flipped three-star DL Darrion Smith from Tennessee. Losing out on five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord, who surprisingly went from Ohio State to Oregon instead of Auburn was the only bad news.
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Florida
Essentially flipping four-star DB Lagonza Hayward from Tennessee was a great finish to a phenomenal few weeks which saw the Gators’ recruiting class completely turn around. There were some misses on Wednesday though as four-star Georgia QB commit Ryan Montgomery didn’t flip and then Florida struck out on a bunch of receivers including Jaime Ffrench, Dallas Wilson, Joshua Moore and the Gators also lost on four-star TE Tae’shaun Gelsey. Still, the last few weeks were unbelievable as Florida flipped so many elite players to make up for any losses.
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Florida State
It’s always darkest before the dawn. Florida State went a miserable 2-10 this season and coach Mike Norvell fired staff during the season but the Seminoles did a phenomenal job and owned this signing day in many respects. Florida State flipped four-star cornerback Shamar Arnoux from Auburn, flipped four-star running back Ousmane Kromah from Georgia, flipped four-star receiver Jayvan Boggs from UCF, flipped Tae’Shaun Gelsey from Florida and then kept four-star DL Kevin Wynn and three-star DB Max Redmon as especially Wynn was being pursued heavily. FSU also added three-star OL Sean Poret, who had been committed to USF. In recent days, the Noles added some key pieces as well and hired new OC Gus Malzahn. Losing five-star OG Solomon Thomas to LSU late in the day hurts but it wasn’t unexpected.
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Michigan
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Less than a week ago, Michigan beat Ohio State so the Wolverines are riding high and they’re still in the clouds after flipping five-star QB Bryce Underwood from LSU. Add on five-star linebacker Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng, who chose the Wolverines over Colorado and in recent days Michigan flipped Clemson DB commit Jordan Young and five-star Auburn DE commit Nathaniel Marshall plus the Wolverines added three-star DL Travis Moten and that’s a really nice run.
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No Drama
Compared to recent signing days when Travis Hunter shockingly flipped from Florida State to Jackson State or like last year when Jeremiah Smith didn’t sign until the wee hours as final touches were put on his NIL deal, this signing day was rather tame. A lot of crazy stuff happened in the weeks leading up to Wednesday but not particularly on the day. Dallas Wilson stuck with Oregon. Linkon Cure didn’t flip to the Ducks. Deuce Knight stuck with Auburn. Michael Carroll didn’t flip to Colorado. Five-stars Michael Fasusi and DJ Pickett stayed with Oklahoma and LSU, respectively. It was ho-hum for a lot of big signings.
Oregon
If Florida State had the best day then Oregon was right behind the Seminoles. It was another phenomenal showing for coach Dan Lanning and his staff as they flipped five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord from Ohio State (while all the talk was about a potential flip to Auburn), turned four-star quarterback Jaron Sagapolutele from Cal, which was harder than it seemed since he had a lot of loyalty to the Golden Bears, and landed four-star DE Tobi Haastrup, who is just scratching the surface. In recent days, Oregon also flipped four-star OL Zac Stascausky from Washington and four-star LB Gavin Nix from Miami. The Ducks wait on four-star TE Andrew Olesh as the No. 1 team ranking hangs in the balance.
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South Carolina
It was a mixed bag for South Carolina on signing day but there was a lot of good news as well as the Gamecocks landed a lot of interior defensive line beef in four-star Christian Ingram (holding off USC for him) and flipping former Mississippi State JUCO commit Zavion Hardy. South Carolina also turned former LSU tight end pledge Mike Tyler from right in Columbia and then late in the day flipped four-star OL Damola Ajidahun from Georgia Tech. The waiting game is still on for four-star WR Donovan Murph but the Gamecocks lead Clemson there. It could have been better if South Carolina could have flipped Greensboro (Ga.) Greene County teammates Stephen Miller or Kevin Wynn or gotten four-star DE Jared Smith but that didn’t happen.
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Tennessee
Even though five-star offensive tackle David Sanders didn’t sign (he should Thursday) there was no hint of a flip from him as Ohio State has pursued hard down the stretch. The Vols landed four-star defensive end Isaiah Campbell and flipped four-star DB Timothy Merritt from Miami. A late addition of four-star LB Jadon Perlotte happened as well as it was expected he would flip from USC on signing day.
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Texas A&M
High four-star receiver Jerome Myles planned to wait to commit following his recent decommitment from USC but the Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon couldn’t wait and announced for the Aggies on Wednesday morning. That was the main news for Texas A&M on a quieter signing day but a lot of work was done in the last 48 hours to flip four-star OL Lamont Rogers and four-star RB Jamarion Morrow from Missouri.
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LOSERS
Colorado
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The Buffaloes had a great finish to November, a phenomenal end to the month, but Colorado did whiff on some final big-ticket targets. Five-star OL Michael Carroll stuck with Alabama, four-star LB Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng went to Michigan and four-star DB Alex Graham flipped to USC.
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Internet on Na’eem Offord’s Phone
The Birmingham (Ala.) Parker signing day ceremony was long. Very long. And the Internet connection on Offord’s phone was really just not working and super laggy. Through highlight tapes and announcements and so much more, it was a long ceremony that didn’t go off too well on Instagram Live. At the end, everybody saw the five-star cornerback flip from Ohio State to Oregon (and also throw an Auburn hat) so it worked out.
LSU
On Tuesday, four-star defensive back Kade Phillips flipped to Texas, three-star tight end Mike Tyler flipped to South Carolina and the biggest target of them all, five-star in-state DL Jahkeem Stewart turned down playing for the Tigers to go to USC. Coach Brian Kelly also went on a soapbox about NIL at his signing day press conference as he’s raking in millions. The day finished well by flipping five-star OL Solomon Thomas from Florida State as LSU still has a top-six class.
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Miami
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It’s been a rough stretch for Miami. The Hurricanes lost to Syracuse and that might have kicked them out of the College Football Playoff. And then five-star Hylton Stubbs flipped to Florida, four-star linebacker Gavin Nix flipped to Oregon, four-star DB Timothy Merritt went to Tennessee, four-star linebacker Tarvos Alford didn’t flip from Ohio State and the Hurricanes couldn’t get five-star DJ Pickett to flip from LSU.
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USC
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Losing four-star linebacker Madden Faraimo to Notre Dame after all the buzz was on the Trojans definitely hurt big especially since he’s from down the road. But early in the day linebackers coach Matt Entz took the Fresno State job (which could have influenced Faraimo) and then midday coach Lincoln Riley had to deny any interest in the UCF job, a storyline that was called “absurd” by one source. The major bright spot was landing five-star DL Jahkeem Stewart, who should only grow in position coach Eric Henderson’s defensive line room. But so many gut-wrenching decommits (many from the Southeast) happened for the Trojans’ class.
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