Winners and losers from the Early Signing Period

The Early Signing Period is two days old, and 97 of the top 100 prospects in the country are either committed or signed to a program.

While there's surely still some drama with late flips coming before February's National Signing Day, it's safe to dissect the recruiting landscape and see where everyone stands with the dust clear from Wednesday.

Here are the winners and losers from the Early Signing Period.

Winner: Recruiting parity

The introduction of name, image, and likeness led many to believe the rich would get richer and all the top recruits would land at the same few schools. The major programs still bring in plenty of five-star prospects, but the NIL initiative has led to some parity among the best recruits. Fourteen different schools nabbed a top-20 prospect from the ESPN 300 in 2024, with only Alabama, Georgia, and Auburn holding commitments or signings from more than one player. That would be the most programs to sign a top-20 recruit in the last six classes.

Loser: Coach Prime

Editor's note: Jordan Seaton formalized his NLI following the publication of this piece.

Deion Sanders has certainly brought a lot of attention to Colorado since taking the coaching job a year ago. However, one thing that hasn't accompanied Coach Prime to Boulder is high school recruits. Just how bad has Sanders been in high school recruiting? Here are the steps you need to follow to find the Buffaloes' ranking on the 247 Sports team list.

Step 1: Scroll to bottom of page
Step 2: Hit 'Load More' to bring up the next 50 schools
Step 3: Scroll to bottom of new page
Step 4: See Colorado ranked No. 98, falling between Eastern Michigan and South Alabama

With only six high school players currently committed or signed to the program, it's fair to wonder what Sanders' plan is with Colorado after next season when his son Shedeur and Travis Hunter are off to the NFL. Even Jordan Seaton, the one five-star prospect Sanders landed a commitment from, has yet to sign his letter of intent and is rumored to be flipping to either Maryland or Nebraska. Coach Prime hit the transfer portal hard, but those players are extreme short-term fixes and aren't what you build a program around.

Winner: Miami

The book has long been written on Mario Cristobal through his coaching career at Oregon and now Miami. His teams occasionally suffer a loss that makes zero sense, but he'll recruit better than almost any coach in the country. We saw the head-scratching setback earlier this year with his team's inability to take a knee and run out the clock versus Georgia Tech. And Wednesday was the opposite side of the coin, with Cristobal bringing in an incredible recruiting class for Miami.

The third-year coach flipped standout defensive end Armondo Blount from Florida State and linebacker Adarius Hayes from Florida to put a strong close on the Early Signing Period's opening day. Add that pair to a class that already features five-star wideout JoJo Trader and high four-stars Justin Scott and Ny Carr, and it's safe to say that Miami is back among the national powerhouses in recruiting. However, the biggest question in Coral Gables is whether that success in talent acquisition can translate to wins on the field.

Loser: Texas A&M

For all his disappointments - and that list was lengthy - Jimbo Fisher always brought elite talent to College Station as the coach of Texas A&M. Fisher delivered classes over the past five years that averaged a ranking of No. 6 nationally and No. 3 in the SEC. That includes the most loaded recruiting class of all time in 2022. Granted, half that class has now departed via transfer, with Fisher now sitting at home collecting over $70 million in buyout money. Still, it doesn't change the fact he delivered on the recruiting trail.

It was always going to be a challenge for Mike Elko to deliver a top performance less than a month after taking a job. But the Aggies don't even hold a top-20 class at the moment and sit an eye-popping 11th in the SEC. Texas A&M lost seven players to decommitments in December, with the nation's top receiver Cam Coleman headlining the list.

Elko's recruiting shouldn't be judged until he has a full cycle to make his mark. However, Aggie fans got very comfortable flexing their school's recruiting success in recent years. With that looking unlikely for this cycle, the new head coach will have to do something Fisher couldn't deliver to satisfy the fan base -- win on the field.

Winner: Hugh Freeze, Auburn

Hugh Freeze has experienced plenty of highs and lows in a tumultuous collegiate coaching career, but he's always proven he can deliver on the recruiting cycle. That was clear again Wednesday, as the second-year coach brought Auburn back to national relevance on the recruiting circuit. The last three years have returned the nation's 21st, 18th, and 28th-ranked classes. After Wednesday, Freeze and the Tigers sit eighth in the nation for the Class of 2024, with a couple of big-name players bringing much-needed star power to the Tigers.

Flipping was the name of the game for Freeze this time around, and the former Ole Miss coach got a number of players to join Auburn after they previously committed to another program. Coleman, the nation's No. 1 receiver, opted against joining Texas A&M and signed with the Tigers. He's joined in the receiver room by Perry Thompson, the No. 44 overall prospect in the country. Thompson's commitment came with the bonus of him backing off an Alabama pledge. Freeze also raided Florida's recruiting class to get star defensive players Jamonta Waller and Amaris Williams before they signed with the Gators.

Loser: USC

For the first time since the Class of 2020, ESPN's top two high school recruits in the state of California won't be going to USC. In fact, the Trojans didn't land any of the top-eight prospects in the state for the Class of 2024, with ninth-ranked Xavier Jordan the only top-10 player in California heading to USC. The latest blow came from receiver Ryan Pellum, a top-100 ESPN prospect who decommitted and headed north to sign with Oregon on Wednesday.

The final numbers add up to the 18th-ranked class in the country by ESPN and No. 20 by 247 Sports. That would normally stack up well in the Pac-12, but the game has changed with USC in the Big Ten now. The Trojans pulled in the fifth-best class in its new conference but sit well back of Oregon as the schools join Washington and UCLA in jumping to the Big Ten. The signing day performance comes on the heels of USC losing last year's No. 1 recruit, Malachi Nelson, to the transfer portal following a dismal 7-5 season.

There's no reason to sound the alarm yet in Los Angeles, but it's highly unlikely USC gave Lincoln Riley his enormous 10-year contract to see him post 7-5 seasons and fail to pull in top-10 recruiting classes.

Winner: Florida

Florida's on-field product has been a mess since Billy Napier took over as head coach, but he could always lean on his strong performance in recruiting to get those calling for his job off his back. Napier's supporters will point to the third-year coach landing highly touted quarterback D.J. Lagway and star defensive lineman L.J. McCray on Wednesday as evidence he's still an elite recruiter. Lagway recently won national high school player of the year honors, while McCray widely projects as a Day 1 force for the Gators. Florida joins Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and Auburn as the only schools to land two players inside the top 24 on ESPN's ranking.

Loser: Florida

OK, we covered the good for Napier and Florida on Wednesday, but now comes the truth - the Gators were one of the biggest losers in the country. Florida held the No. 3 class just weeks ago, but it got decimated by commitments flipping to other programs.

In the opening hours of the Early Signing Period alone, Florida saw six players inside the top 150 who were once committed sign with other programs. Those decommitments were enough to plummet the Gators' class ranking outside the top 12.

Keeping Lagway and McCray are huge wins for Napier, but he needed a huge signing day performance coming off a 5-7 season and missing a bowl game. That didn't happen, and it's safe to say time is ticking on his tenure in Gainesville.

Winner: Nebraska

Nebraska's win came a couple of days before the Early Signing Period when Dylan Raiola announced he flipped his commitment from Georgia. The nation's top-ranked pocket passer had previously committed to Ohio State before changing to the Bulldogs but was rumored to still be interested in Nebraska due to his family connections to the school. Raiola's father, Dominic, was an All-American center for the Cornhuskers before embarking on a 14-year professional career, and his uncle, Donovan, is currently the offensive line coach with the program.

Regardless, it still took a huge effort from Matt Rhule and the Cornhuskers to flip the five-star passer from the behemoth that is Georgia. Raiola is now Nebraska's top-rated recruit ever and instantly brings added credibility to the rebuild Rhule is attempting with the former powerhouse program.