Once one of the biggest days on the college football calendar, the vibe around national signing day has changed with the advent of the transfer portal.
Three years ago, Colorado coach Deion Sanders drew widespread skepticism and even criticism for essentially ignoring high school prospects in favor of signing dozens of college transfers. That’s become increasingly common, especially for coaches looking to turn over most of a roster in a single offseason.
But there’s always room for traditional, old-school recruits — as long as you can keep them, which is another question in this era of rampant player movement.
Programs that shined on signing day include Southern California, Oregon, Alabama, Notre Dame and Georgia. The SEC and Big Ten continued to lap the rest of the Power Four by dominating the top 25 classes, according to the composite team rankings compiled by 247Sports.
Vanderbilt, USC and Penn State lead signing day’s biggest winners and losers:
Winners
Vanderbilt
The red-hot Commodores made headlines this week after flipping local quarterback Jared Curtis away from his verbal commitment to Georgia. The top prospect at his position in this class, Curtis committed to the Bulldogs in May but took an unofficial visit to Vanderbilt in late October. He’s the highest-rated signee in modern program history and the heir apparent to Diego Pavia, potentially as soon as next season.
Southern California
USC signed the nation’s top class, according to 247Sports, winning multiple battles for elite prospects against some of the top programs in the Power Four. That includes a late win against Ohio State for wide receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt. The Trojans’ 35-member class is heavy on linemen, with seven signings to the offensive front — including five-star offensive tackle Keenyi Pepe — and eight on defense. USC is the first non-SEC school to finish first in 247Sports’ composite team rankings since Miami in 2008.
Big Ten and SEC
The Big Ten has three of the top six classes in USC, Oregon and Ohio State. Also in the top 15 are Michigan and Washington, while Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota round out the top 25. But the conference is bested by the SEC, which has five of the top nine classes, led by Alabama at No. 3, and 11 of the top 27. Already very noticeable, the talent gap between these two conferences and the rest of the Power Four is set to expand in the near future.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers signed a class of 40 as coach Rich Rodriguez looks to beef up the talent level and depth heading into his second season. WVU closed with a bang, first flipping legacy offensive tackle recruit Kevin Brown away from Penn State and then coming out of almost nowhere to nab talented athlete Matt Sieg, who could play on both sides of the ball. Eleven new defensive backs will help improve one of the nation’s weakest pass defenses.
Losers
Penn State
Penn State’s class was always going to suffer for James Franklin’s midseason firing. But the long and drawn-out process to find his replacement and Franklin’s move to Virginia Tech has put a huge dent in the Nittany Lions’ group, which as of Wednesday afternoon ranked last in the Big Ten. As expected, Franklin poached multiple members of his former class, including several highly rated prospects. The best might be four-star running back Messiah Mickens. While the next Penn State coach can make up ground in the transfer portal, to have a class this small and unimpactful will create a roster imbalance that may take one or two additional cycles to correct.
Baylor
Baylor lost several verbal commitments in the weeks leading into signing day even after announcing that coach Dave Aranda would return in 2026. One late flip was longtime offensive tackle commitment Kole Seaton, who instead will sign with Oklahoma State. The Bears also lost four-star receiver Jordan Clay to Washington, four-star defensive lineman Jamarion Carlton to Texas and four-star defensive back Jamarion Vincent to Michigan. Baylor had previously lost four-star safety Jordan Deck to the Wolverines. When the dust cleared as of Wednesday afternoon, this class ranked outside the top 75 nationally and near the bottom of the Big 12.
Syracuse
Fran Brown was still able to sign a solid class that should end up among the top five or six in the ACC despite Syracuse taking a nosedive to the bottom of the conference standings. That’s a testament to Brown’s recruiting chops, which have never been in doubt. But while able to hang onto commitments such as wide receiver Amare Gough and defensive lineman Kamron Wilson, the Orange stumbled to the finish line after offensive lineman Steven Pickard flipped to Florida State and star receiver recruit Calvin Russell backed off his commitment on signing day. Russell seems likely to end up at Miami.
North Carolina
Signing a top 20 class sounds good until you look a little closer at the UNC haul. While there are some very nice pieces in quarterback Travis Burgess and defensive lineman Trashawn Ruffin, among a few others, Bill Belichick and the Tar Heels signed just two of the top 25 in-state prospects, fewer than Georgia, Notre Dame and South Carolina. The number of flyers in this class is concerning given how badly Belichick and general manager Michael Lombardi botched the evaluation process and roster management heading into Belichick’s debut season.