The arrival of the early signing period Wednesday offered a stark reminder for college football fans.
If recruiting rankings offer any accurate gauge in the era of the transfer portal, those teams competing for berths now should keep contending for years to come.
Texas, Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State are all on track to earn playoff invitations, and those four schools are landing the nation鈥檚 top high school recruiting classes. It represents one more example of how the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten have separated themselves from all the other leagues.
Steve Wiltfong, the vice president of recruiting and the transfer portal for On3, said it鈥檚 apparent why those programs continue recruiting so well.
鈥淔irst and foremost, those are the programs with the most resources,鈥� Wiltfong said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e the programs that are having the most success on the field and in the NFL draft.鈥�
The identity of the No. 1 class according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports may not be determined until the nation鈥檚 top-ranked uncommitted prospect 鈥� Manchester (Georgia) defensive tackle Justus Terry 鈥� announces his decision Friday.
Terry, the nation鈥檚 No. 10 overall recruit according to the 247Sports Composite, is considering Georgia, Texas and Auburn. He鈥檚 the rare prospect delaying his decision.
Virtually every top recruit already had committed to a school well before the signing period, continuing a trend that took effect from the time a December signing date was added in 2017 to the traditional February signing period. This year, that early signing period was so that it would take place before the transfer window opens Monday.
Perhaps the most notable development in the weeks leading up to the signing period was quarterback to stay in his home state and play for Michigan after initially planning to play at LSU.
Underwood鈥檚 switch brought late momentum for the whose recruiting class was ranked sixth as of Wednesday morning. This will be Michigan鈥檚 first top-10 class since 2020.
Michigan鈥檚 recruiting emergence wasn鈥檛 the only surprise.
Auburn has a likely top-five class after posting a fourth consecutive losing season. Florida was the fastest-rising team in the recruiting rankings after coach earned a vote of confidence and freshman quarterback DJ Lagway helped the Gators win to close the regular season.
鈥淚鈥檓 calling it the DJ Lagway effect,鈥� said Andrew Ivins, the director of scouting for 247Sports. 鈥淭hey went from outside the top 50 to knocking on the door for a top-10 recruiting class. We haven鈥檛 really seen that type of push ever.鈥�
