The biggest winners and losers from early National Signing Day in college football
It was an eventful 24 hours, as some of the top college football recruits in the country made their decisions.
The NCAA moved up early National Signing Day this year to Wednesday, December 4th, but that didn’t take away any of the excitement of the day that involved decisions for a number of top college football recruits across the country. It was an eventful 24 hours, as some of the top recruits in the country made their decisions, with some major flips happening between top schools.
There were a number of winners on the day who added a strong 2025 recruiting classes, but there were also programs that saw their recruiting classes take a hit and did not finish as impressive as expected.
Below we break down the biggest winners and losers from early National Signing Day.
The Winners
Oregon Ducks
When it comes to the Early Signing Period, it’s hard not to talk about the Oregon Ducks, who absolutely crushed it on Wednesday.
Already coming in with one of the strongest recruiting classes in the nation, the Ducks shocked the country by flipping five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord from the Ohio State Buckeyes, as the Auburn Tigers were the crystal ball favorites for the defensive back.
Staying on the defensive side, they managed to add another linebacker to their class by flipping Miami four-star commit Gavin Nix on Wednesday in a big move.
They also landed themselves a second quarterback in the class by flipping five-star Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele from Cal, adding to a room that already had four-star Akili Smith Jr. at the position.
Oregon also managed to keep five-star wide receiver Dallas Wilson, who was on flip watch, ultimately ending with a top-four class in the country.
Overall, it was a productive day for head coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks, who came out as big winners on National Signing Day.
Texas Longhorns
Well, when you have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, you usually end up a winner on National Signing Day.
Texas found a way to add to their class with a number of late high-profile additions, starting off with the flip of five-star defensive back Kade Phillips from the LSU Tigers on Tuesday night.
Things didn’t stop there though, as the Longhorns secured the commitment of five-star athlete Michael Terry, locking down one of the top uncommitted recruits in the class and keeping the talented offensive weapon in the state of Texas.
Then, on Friday, the Longhorns struck big with the top uncommitted recruit in the class, securing a commitment from five-star defensive tackle Justus Terry over the likes of Auburn, Georgia, and Alabama.
So, Texas added three major recruits to their No. 1 recruiting class, and they’re looking strong once again with a freshman class loaded with talent.
Texas A&M Aggies
If we’re talking about one Texas team on National Signing Day, we can’t forget the other.
The Texas A&M Aggies saw themselves benefit from a big Wednesday, as they were able to flip five-star wide receiver Jerome Myles from the USC Trojans, while also flipping five-star offensive lineman Lamont Rogers from Missouri.
Both players contributed to a top-10 class for the Aggies that has undergone some changes over the past month, losing five-star quarterback commit Husan Longstreet to the Trojans, but has rebounded nicely with Myles and Rogers, who are the top two players in Texas A&M’s class currently.
Head coach Mike Elko had a tough task replacing Jimbo Fisher last offseason and coming into a major SEC program, but he managed to land the 16th-best recruiting class in 2024 and has now followed that up with a top-eight class in 2025. Impressive stuff from the first-year head coach.
Florida State
While the Seminoles don’t have as strong of a class as some of the other teams on this list, they worked hard to secure a top-25 class after seeing a mass exodus over the past month following coordinator changes on both sides of the ball.
It’s tough to see a vision when a team goes 2-10, but head coach Mike Norvell worked some magic on National Signing Day, flipping a number of top targets to end with a strong finish in the cycle.
The Seminoles flipped not one, not two, but three four-stars on the day, getting four-star running back Ousmane Kromah from Georgia, four-star wide receiver Jayvan Boggs from UCF, and four-star cornerback Shemar Arnoux from Auburn.
They also managed to flip three-star wideout Teriq Mallory from West Virginia, ending the day with the No. 22 class in the country, according to 247Sports.
Georgia Tech
It may be weird to have a team on here without any major flips, but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets deserve to be winners after holding on to some of their top recrujtments.
They had one of the best commits in the class with five-star interior offensive lineman Josh Petty, but it was always going to be a challenge to get him signed with the amount of outside interest involved. While he didn’t sign on Wednesday, Georgia Tech got the five-star signed on Thursday, beating out top contenders like Tennessee and Ohio State for the prized recruit.
Elsewhere, four-star athlete Dalen Penson was another flip candidate, with USC heavily involved, but he also signed with head coach Brent Key and the Yellow Jackets in another major recruiting win.
Landing the No. 18 class in the 2025 cycle, Key has turned things around for Georgia Tech and has that program buzzing for the future.
The Losers
USC Trojans
Head coach Lincoln Riley’s class still finished in the Top 15 of the 2025 class, but there were a number of notable misses for the Trojans on National Signing Day that could have improved this class to one of the best in the country.
Prior to National Signing Day, USC saw five-star wide receiver Jerome Myles de-commit from the program on December 1st. But, much of the action itself came on Wednesday, and not in the best way.
Four-star linebacker Jadon Perlotte flipped from USC to Tennessee on Wednesday, despite visiting the Trojans for their last game of the regular season.
Looking at some misses, the Trojans were unable to flip five-star cornerback Dijon Lee from Alabama, losing out on the in-state recruit. They missed out on flipping four-star defensive lineman Christian Ingram, who ended up at South Carolina. They couldn’t flip four-star athlete Dalen Penson from Georgia Tech despite a strong last-minute effort.
And, despite being perceived as the leader for four-star in-state linebacker Madden Faraimo, they couldn’t close out in that recruitment, losing out to Notre Dame.
That wasn’t all, as they missed out on four-star edge rusher Epi Sitanelei, failing to keep another high-profile recruit in-state despite being in it until the last minute, losing out to Ohio State. Lastly, four-star defensive lineman Josiah Sharma was a late flip candidate, having come to USC for the final week of the season, but the in-state recruit stayed committed to Texas.
Overall, it was a disappointing close for USC, even with the commitment of five-star defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart and the flip of four-star cornerback Alex Graham, as they couldn’t close on a number of recruits and missed out on keeping a ton of in-state targets.
Clemson Tigers
While serving as the head coach of the Clemson Tigers, Dabo Swinney has preached the value of high school recruiting, electing time and time again not to go to the transfer portal for talent upgrades, instead going the more traditional route.
Swinney’s approach has been criticized in the new era of college football, but he has compiled top-15 recruiting classes every year since 2017, when he had the 16th-best class in the country.
Well, that changed during this cycle, as Clemson currently has the 27th-best class in the nation, which would be the worst of Swinney’s tenure with the Tigers.
Clemson landed one five-star in the class and closed on just two of the top 13 recruits in the state of South Carolina, including eight four-stars, with six ending up with the Gamecocks.
Perhaps there’s some late magic coming from Swinney and the Tigers, but for a team that relies as much on high school recruiting as Clemson does, finishing with the head coach’s worst class in his tenure there isn’t the best look.
Miami Hurricanes
Similar to USC, the Miami Hurricanes still finished with a consensus top-15 recruiting class in the country. But, there were opportunities for the class to finish stronger, which didn’t happen on National Signing Day.
The most notable miss was five-star cornerback DJ Pickett, who remained intact with his commitment to LSU, despite being a Florida native. The Hurricanes were also in the mix for Oregon five-star receiver Dallas Wilson, but the wideout also remained intact with his original commitment, signing with the Ducks.
There seemed to be a legitimate chance to flip Texas five-star commit Jaime Ffrench, as both Miami and Florida were pushing hard for a major addition to their respective 2025 classes, but the Jacksonville native ultimately signed with the Longhorns on Wednesday.
They also lost four-star linebacker Gavin Nix, who de-committed and flipped to the Ducks on Wednesday, while being unable to flip four-star linebacker Tarvos Alford from the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Once again, the Hurricanes still finished with a top-15 class in the country, but they had a number of chances to flip other commits and were unable to on National Signing Day.