College football’s early signing period opened Wednesday and saw plenty of fireworks pop off across the 2025 class, leaving a handful programs riding a signing day high and plenty more licking their wounds with holes still left to fill.

Wednesday’s obvious winner: The Oregon Ducks who vaulted all the way to No. 2 in ESPN’s class rankings with a flurry of commitments, including the flip of the top defender in the 2025 cycle. With 16 ESPN 300 commits, the Ducks are right on the tails of Georgia for top spot among the best classes in 2025.

Meanwhile, another Big Ten team joined a pair of top ACC programs who stumbled, losing key pledges and dropping in ESPN’s class rankings in disappointing fashion.

Here’s a look at the winners, the programs who missed out on Wednesday and the questions that still loom over the 2025 cycle after more than 12 months of recruiting played out in the span of 12 hours on Wednesday:

Jump to a section:
Biggest winners from the early signing period
Schools that have issues to figure out
Three big remaining questions

Signing day winners

Oregon Ducks

No program had a better early signing period than Dan Lanning and the Ducks. And no moment on Day 1 of the signing window was bigger than five-star cornerback Na’eem Offord’s flip from Ohio State to Oregon Wednesday morning.

Offord is ESPN’s No. 4 overall prospect and the nation’s No. 1 defender, and the Ducks made a statement in swiping him from the Big Ten rival Buckeyes after Offord had spent nine months committed to Ohio State. He’s now the second-ranked member of Oregon’s incoming class, providing a boost that lifted Oregon to No. 2 in ESPN’s class rankings by day’s end.

But Offord wasn’t the only big move for Lanning and Co. The commitment of four-star defensive end Tobi Haastrup pads the Ducks’ defensive class, and Oregon bolstered its quarterback room by flipping Cal pledgeJaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who joins four-star passer Akili Smith Jr. in the program’s latest signing class.

The Ducks held onto flip candidates in athlete Brandon Finney and wide receiver Dallas Wilson, too, and the signature of No. 1 wide receiver Dakorien Moore was a sweet way for the Ducks to start the day. An already loaded Oregon 2025 class just got even better.

Michigan Wolverines

Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines have been on a steady rise in the 2025 cycle over the last month, landing No. 1 overall prospect and five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood along with three more ESPN 300 pledges in November. This week, Michigan padded that class with a pair of top-100 defenders who have the Wolverines comfortably headed for a top-10 finish in 2025.

Michigan flipped four-star Auburn defensive tackle pledge Nathaniel Marshall on Tuesday, then beat Colorado for eighth-ranked outside linebacker Nathaniel Owusu-Boateng Wednesday afternoon. With those names, alongside four ESPN 300 defensive back signees, the Wolverines have put together one of the most complete defensive classes in the 2025 cycle. At quarterback, there’s simply no understating the importance of Underwood’s signature and keeping a five-star talent from nearby Belleville, Michigan, in state.

A lingering question for Michigan: the signature of four-star tight end Andrew Olesh, who plans to sign on Friday, but Oregon is circling which leaves open the potential for a flip. Past that, the Wolverines’ class is sturdy and Moore has proven his recruiting chops in Year 1 despite a shaky debut season on the field.

Florida Gators

The Gators have charted the hottest finish to the 2025 cycle of any program across the country, securing 13 commitments since Billy Napier’s future was settled on Nov. 7, including seven from the ESPN 300.

Napier and Florida signed ESPN 300 safeties Hylton Stubbs (Miami flip) and Lagonza Hayward Jr. (former Tennessee pledge) to fortify the back end of a defensive class that already features top inside linebacker Ty Jackson, four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. and three top-300 defensive lineman, led by four-star edge Jalen Wiggins.

The Gators missed on flipping Oregon wide receiver pledge Dallas Wilson, but there’s pass-catching talent coming through to help quarterback D.J. Lagway in four-star wide receiver signees Vernell Brown III and Naeshaun Montgomery. And in Auburn offensive tackle flip Tavaris Dice and Florida State running back flip Byron Louis, Florida signed reinforcements in the run game, as well.

A strong close to the regular season has coincided with a forceful late push in the 2025 cycle from the Gators. Napier’s latest class appears to be another piece in the foundation of a turnaround at Florida.

Texas A&M Aggies

The Aggies had plenty of talent in 2025 entering the early signing period, but Mike Elko’s inaugural recruiting class was lacking a bit of flash. That was before Texas A&M pulled commitments from offensive tackleLamont Rogers and wide receiver Jerome Myles.

Rogers, No. 24 in the ESPN 300, was a longtime target before his decommitment from Missouri. After a series of visits to the Aggies this fall, his signature gives Texas A&M an elite, big-bodied addition to a deep 2025 offensive line class. The Aggies’ need for something more up front was on display in their Week 14 loss to Texas. Prospects like the 6-foot-7, 310-pound Rogers will Texas A&M get there.

Myles, ESPN’s No. 6 wide receiver prospect, was not expected to sign this week following his decommitment from USC on Sunday. His addition gives the Aggies a downfield threat to go help an offense that finished 99th nationally in completions over 20 yards this fall.

Texas A&M also signed nine ESPN 300 defenders. The Aggies are going to rely on their defense under Elko, and deep defensive classes like this one are going to be critical to that end.

Arkansas Razorbacks

The Razorbacks were set to deliver another respectable, if unremarkable class in 2025. But in holding onto the program’s No. 1 commit and flipping an intriguing quarterback prospect, Arkansas became one of Wednesday’s top storylines.

Sam Pittman and defensive coordinator Travis Williams had a battle on their hands in getting four-star outside linebacker Tavion Wallace over the finish line. Florida State and Georgia worked hard to flip ESPN’s No. 45 overall prospect, but he ultimately signed with Razorbacks. At 6-foot-1, 200 pounds with track speed, Wallace is the kind of rangy defender Arkansas needs to compete in the SEC.

After already signing two quarterbacks, including ESPN 300 passer Grayson Wilson, the Razorbacks pulled off the surprise flip of UCLA quarterback pledge Madden Iamaleava, the younger brother of Tennessee starter Nico Iamaleava. Pulling Iamaleava, who originally committed to UCLA, from Southern California — alongside high school teammate and fellow Bruins flip Jace Brown — marks a big swing from Pittman and Co. At the very least, the future of Arkansas’ quarterback position is a whole lot more interesting with Iamaleava, ESPN’s No. 8 pocket passer, in the fold.

Schools that still have issues

Ohio State Buckeyes

Perhaps it’s harsh to criticize the Buckeyes after Ohio State signed a pair of five-star prospects, eight of ESPN’s top-100 players and 15 members of the 2025 ESPN 300.

But the Buckeyes get graded on a high scale. And the loss of Offord, the program’s top pledge since February, marks a mighty blow, underscored further by the fact that he spurned the Buckeyes for Big Ten foe Oregon. Following last month’s decommitments from top-100 defensive ends London Merritt and Zahir Mathis, Ohio State’s once overwhelming defensive class looks just a little less fearsome with Offord headed to the Ducks.

Ohio State still currently holds the fourth-ranked class in the country. But Michigan has gained heavily on the Buckeyes over the last month, and Ryan Day’s 2025 class no longer looks like a contender for the nation’s top class.

Florida State Seminoles

The early signing period opened bright for Mike Norvell and Co. ESPN 300 flips of Georgia running back pledge Ousmane Kromah and UCF wide receiver Jayvan Boggs marked nice boosts following the hiring of Gus Malzahn as offensive coordinator. Holding off Georgia to sign four-star defensive tackle Kevin Wynn was an important move, as well.

But any chance of the Seminoles salvaging the 2025 class after a disastrous fall likely ended when five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomasflipped to LSU. Still pledged to Florida State entering Wednesday, Thomas’ signature might have represented an upswing if the Seminoles could have held on. Instead, he became the 10th prospect to leave Norvell’s 2025 class this fall, including the eighth from inside the ESPN 300, as a once stout Seminoles offensive line class officially crumbled.

Miami Hurricanes

Mario Cristobal began the week headed for his third consecutive top-10 class with the Hurricanes. Following a handful of departures and a few flip misses, Miami’s incoming class sits 15th, just two spots ahead of ACC rival Georgia Tech.

Individually, this week’s flips out of the Hurricanes class from four-star defenders Hylton Stubbs (Florida) and Gavin Nix (Oregon) and three-star cornerback Timothy Merritt were not devastating. But together they represented a late stumble for Miami in a cycle where the Hurricanes missed on top in-state flip targets such as D.J. Pickett, Dallas Wilson and Tarvos Alford, and ultimately failed to sign any of the state of Florida’s top 25 prospects.

There’s promising talent in the Hurricanes incoming class, headlined by five-star offensive guard S.J. Alofaituli. But, similar to Miami’s 2024 regular season, a strong start in the 2025 cycle has ended in a weak finish.

LSU Tigers

D.J. Pickett‘s signature and the late flip of Solomon Thomas represent two truly significant wins for Brian Kelly and the Tigers.

But consider where LSU once stood in the 2025 cycle with pledges from No. 1 quarterback Bryce Underwood, No. 1 running back Harlem Berry and No. 1 wide receiver Dakorien Moore. Then consider a Tigers class that finished Wednesday solidly ranked eighth nationally, but only after losing seven top-300 pledges along the way, most recently with Kade Phillips’ flip to Texas on Monday. Plenty good. But good enough to pull LSU back to the top of the SEC?

The Tigers should be just fine. But there’s work to be done if LSU is going to maximize its monster recruiting potential and finally land a top five class, something Kelly has now failed to do in three cycles with the Tigers.

USC Trojans

Similar to LSU, one five-star signee won’t erase a cycle that’s left more questions hanging over Lincoln Riley and the Trojans.

The signing of five-star defensive endJahkeem Stewart was a significant late boost, particularly for a program that’s lacked physicality up front in recent seasons. But as USC sits 13th in ESPN’s class rankings and the Trojans look to find their footing in a competitive Big Ten, it’s difficult to overlook the 14 prospects who pulled their pledges from Riley and Co. in this cycle, including eigh in the final month before the early signing period.

USC will surely miss the high-profile talents of five-stars like quarterback Julian Lewis and defensive tackle Justus Terry. But as the Trojans try to build themselves into a Big Ten contender, they could miss ESPN 300 linebacker decommits Ty Jackson and Jadon Perlotte and the depth they lost in the secondary just as much.

Biggest remaining questions

Where will Justus Terry land?

The nation’s top uncommitted prospect didn’t sign on Wednesday. Instead, Terry — the five-star defensive tackle — intends to announce his commitment and sign on Friday with Georgia, Texas and Auburn each still vying for the 6-foot-5, 270-pound run stopper from Manchester, Georgia.

Georgia has spent the fall as the front-runner for Terry’s pledge. But ESPN sources at Auburn and Texas remain confident in their respective positions in the pursuit as Terry takes his decision to the final day of the three-day signing window. His decision will have major implications for ESPN’s class rankings.

If Terry signs with the Bulldogs on Friday, Georgia will close the nation’s top recruiting class for the second year in a row. As Texas sits at No. 3 in ESPN’s class rankings, the Longhorns could be a Terry signature away from the program’s first No. 1 class in the ESPN recruiting era (dating to 2006). And after Auburn slipped to No. 7 on Wednesday, Terry’s pledge could be the key to pull the Tigers to a top-five finish for the first time under Hugh Freeze.

When will David Sanders sign?

Among the 18 five-star prospects who entered the early signing period committed to a school, only one closed Wednesday without signing: Tennessee offensive tackle pledge David Sanders.

Sanders, ESPN’s No. 5 overall prospect, has been committed to the Vols since August. But his Nov. 23 visit to Ohio State raised eyebrows, as will his decision to remain the only one of Tennessee’s 26 commits who has yet to give the Vols his signature.

Sources told ESPN Sanders remains on track to eventually sign with Tennessee. However, curiosity will linger over the coveted offensive tackle for as long as it takes him to put pen to paper.

What’s next for North Carolina quarterback pledge Bryce Baker?

Flips from Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele (Cal to Oregon) and Madden Iamaleava (UCLA to Arkansas) marked the biggest bits of quarterback movement on Wednesday. Among the nation’s top passers, the only one without a certain destination now is North Carolina commit Bryce Baker.

Committed to the Tar Heels since June 2023, Baker remains a member of North Carolina’s class. But ESPN’s No. 4 dual-threat passer did not sign Wednesday and Baker continues to evaluate his options with the Tar Heels looking to fill their head coaching vacancy following the departure of Mack Brown.

Baker visited Penn State on the final weekend of the regular season and has been in touch with LSU. He told ESPN on Monday that he hopes to resolve his recruitment by the end of the weekend or early next week, leaving one last quarterback domino to fall in the 2025 class.