National Signing Day is the culmination of a months- and years-long process of college football recruiting in a three-day span during this week’s early signing period.
The biggest news of the week came Tuesday night, when Jared Curtis, the No. 1 overall player in the 2026 class according to the 247Sports composite rankings, flipped his commitment from Georgia to sign with the hometown Vanderbilt Commodores in a historic move.
He’s the first five-star signee in program history.
A neon sign Vanderbilt has a different reputation after turning it around on the field the last two years with Diego Pavia at the helm.
No longer an SEC afterthought with revenue-sharing in play, the Commodores also flipped three-star receiver Owen Cabell from Alabama on Wednesday.
At No. 30 in the 247 composite class rankings (11th of 16 Southeastern Conference teams) as of Wednesday afternoon, it’s not like the Commodores are contending for every top recruit. But with a quarterback that all the top programs chased now in the fold, they seem poised to remain frisky in the SEC going forward.
Here are some other winners and losers from the first day of the early signing period:
–Winners
USC
Lincoln Riley hasn’t yet brought the level of success expected of him in his first four seasons at USC.
It’s possible this year’s signing class is the moment you look back at that changing. The Trojans clinched the No. 1 ranked 2026 class with a flip of four-star receiver Kayden Dixon-Wyatt from Ohio State on Wednesday.
USC is the first non-SEC team since Miami in 2008 to top the recruiting class rankings, per 247Sports.
With five-star offensive lineman Keenyi Pepe and 21 four-star signees — including four wide receivers, three offensive linemen, three defensive linemen and quarterback Jonas Williams — the Trojans built their 2026 class for long-term success.
LSU
After he was announced as LSU’s new coach on Sunday, Lane Kiffin had less than 72 hours on the job before NSD began.
Given those parameters, it’s pretty impressive what he has managed to pull off.
The Tigers’ signing class of 16 is smaller than some of LSU’s upper-tier peers.
But the class sure is mighty.
Kiffin inherited two five-star commits in defensive linemen Lamar Brown and Richard Anderson. Anderson signed on Wednesday while Brown still hasn’t but he’s reportedly trending that way.
Kiffin also brought aboard a few players that were formerly committed to him at Ole Miss and is trending towards flipping South Carolina four-star QB commit Landon Duckworth according to multiple recruiting experts.
Four-star cornerback Havon Finney initially said he was planning to delay his signing before ultimately choosing to head to Baton Rouge. But Kiffin’s work isn’t done. Defensive lineman Deuce Geralds announced Wednesday his signing was on hold.
As of Wednesday evening, LSU’s average commit rating of 93.61 is the best nationally in 247Sports’ rankings.
Losers
Penn State
When Penn State was among the first job openings this year, it can’t have imagined things would play out like this.
The Nittany Lions are still without a new head coach, most recently failing to pull Kalani Sitake away from BYU. Meanwhile, their 2026 class which had been assembled by former coach James Franklin has crumbled.
Franklin has flipped 10 of their former commits, including four-star running back Messiah Mickens and four-star linebacker Terry Wiggins, to join him at Virginia Tech.
Overall, Penn State has lost 23 commits and has just two left. It ranks 150th nationally in 247’s rankings, surrounded by a host of FCS teams.
The one saving grace Wednesday was that former four-star QB commit Peyton Falzone rejoined the class and signed with Penn State.
Syracuse
Fran Brown has brought some serious recruiting juice to Syracuse in his two seasons on the job.
Nowhere is that more evident than landing a commitment from Miami (Fla.) four-star receiver Calvin Russell, a top-100 recruit and top-10 receiver in the class, in July.
Russell never seemed to waver in his pledge, even while the Orange floundered their way to a 3-9 record this season.
Until Wednesday afternoon. Russell announced at his signing ceremony that he would be delaying his signing.
Michigan and Miami are still pushing hard for Russell. The longer he holds out on his decision, the less likely it seems he will play at Syracuse.
–Curt Weiler, Field Level Media
