A look at how the national signing day went around the country:
BIG TEN
LINCOLN, Neb. — Scott Frost and his assistant coaches are about to get a well-deserved break.
Signing day marked the end of the two-month whirlwind that followed their hiring at Nebraska. Part of time they spent preparing for and coaching Central Florida in its Peach Bowl win over Auburn that completed a 13-0 season. The rest of the time they picked up the pieces of a recruiting class that imploded before Mike Riley’s firing and assembled a group that on Wednesday stood No. 22 in the 247 Sports composite team rankings.
"The job they’ve done in the last two months, I don’t know if it’s ever been done in college football and I don’t know if it will be done again," Frost said of his assistants.
Frost added, "To do all that while taking a class that — not that I pay attention — was ranked 94th or something when we got here up to a top 25 or 20 class, it’s unprecedented what these guys have done. Really, it’s been less me than the group of 10 guys who are working in the football office. I can’t wait to see what they can accomplish here."
The day started and ended on bright notes. Four-star defensive end Caleb Tannor of Lithonia, Georgia, picked the Cornhuskers over four Southeastern Conference schools in the morning. Four-star running back Maurice Washington of Cedar Hill (Texas) Trinity Christian, the most valuable player of the Under Armour All-America Game, announced an hour before Frost met with reporters that he was coming to Lincoln.
Those additions highlighted the class of 24, including 13 players who signed in December. The top December recruits were four-star quarterback Adrian Martinez of Fresno (California) Clovis West and five junior-college players.
"They were able to hit the ground running, do it quickly, and make some headway with the first signing period, which was not easy to do for any of the 11 new Power Five coaches," ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill said. "When you’re trying to prepare a football team to play in a bowl game, as Scott Frost and his staff were doing, and at the same time pulling double duty and recruiting and trying to lead up to an early signing period, I thought they did a remarkable job."
Frost due for break after wrapping up Huskers' top-25 class
Now Frost and his staff can breathe. He’s giving his defensive staff next week off and his offensive staff the following week off. Frost will return to Orlando for a few days next week to see his wife and infant son.
"It was hard work for us," he said, "but it was really rewarding when it worked out the way it did."
Some things to know about signing day in the Big Ten:
BUCKEYES LEAD BIG TEN
Ohio State led the Big Ten team rankings again and was No. 2 behind Georgia. The Buckeyes’ big "get" on Wednesday was five-star offensive lineman Nicholas Petit-Frere from Tampa, Florida. The Buckeyes also have one of the nation’s top defensive line prospects on board in Taron Vincent out of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
PENN STATE’S PUSH
Penn State ranked No. 4 nationally and second in the Big Ten. Fifteen of its 23 signees are rated as four- or five-stars. Coach James Franklin was a big winner on the East Coast, but he also opened the door in Texas with the signings of safety Isaiah Humphries and cornerback Trent Gordon. They already have offers out to nine Texans for 2019.
PURDUE COUP
Purdue landed its top wide receiver prospect in more than a decade in four-star Rondale Moore of Louisville, Kentucky. Moore de-committed from Texas in December and picked Purdue over offers from Alabama, Ohio State and Florida State.
Coach Jeff Brohm can use the 5-foot-8, 175-pound Moore in a variety of roles. His 109 receptions for Trinity High last season were second-most ever by a Kentucky prep player. He also will be a candidate to run jet sweeps and return punts.
WOLVERINES SLIP
Michigan, which had the No. 5 class in the nation last year, slipped to No. 21 after going 8-5 last season. The Wolverines don’t have a top-100 player after losing out on two of their top targets on Wednesday.
VALKOMMEN TO RUTGERS!
Rutgers, whose recruiting footprint has long been New Jersey and bordering states, went all the way to Sweden to land three-star defensive end Robin Jutwreten. He’s friends with countryman Sam Vretman, a rising sophomore offensive lineman at Rutgers.
Unlike Vretman, who was recruited out of a prep school in Connecticut, the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Jutwreten took an unconventional route to Rutgers. He comes out of the Swedish national team program. His recruitment started after he contacted Premier Players International, a European-based service that helps players connect with U.S. college programs.
PAC-12
Clay Helton has proven to be an adept recruiter in his three full seasons in Southern California, annually bringing in loaded recruiting classes.
His 2018 class may be the best of the bunch.
Headlined by a quartet of five-star recruits, Helton and the Trojans signed 17 players Wednesday in a class that was ranked sixth nationally by 247Sports.com. Helton’s haul comes a day after he signed a contract extension through 2023.
"It’s very important when you’re at SC to acquire the best talent and the best young men ... and the 18 young men we signed today represent that," Helton said.
USC may have filled its quarterback need after Sam Darnold declared for the NFL draft, signing five-star quarterback JT Daniels of nearby Irvine.
Daniels, who played at Mater Dei High School, was the Gatorade national player of the year as a junior and committed to the Trojans over the summer for the class of 2019. He is now in the process of graduating early so he can reclassify for 2018.
Daniels will have a familiar target to throw to after Amon-Ra St. Brown, a five-star receiver from Mater Dei, signed with USC. His brother Equanimeous recently left Notre Dame early for the NFL draft and his other brother, Osiris, will be a redshirt freshman at Stanford next season.
A third Mater Dei player, four-star linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu also signed with the Trojans.
The recruiting class also includes five-star cornerback Olaijah Griffin, son of rapper Warren G. Griffin’s announcement had a Hollywood flair to it, with his father and Snoop Dogg in attendance.
Five-star linebacker Palaie Gaoteote IV, of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, signed with USC during the early signing period.
Other signing day tidbits from around the Pac-12:
HUSKIES HAUL: USC may have had the Pac-12’s highest-rated class, but Washington was not far behind with the best recruiting class of coach Chris Petersen’s career.
The Huskies signed a pair of four-star players to finish off their 2018 class, which was ranked No. 13 by 247Sports.com
Washington landed 11 four-star recruits, including four-star defensive back Julius Irvin from Anaheim, California, and four-star defensive lineman Tuli Letuligasenoa from Concord, California. Letuligasenoa originally was a verbal commit to USC.
The Huskies did lose out on one prospect when defensive end Jeremiah Martin from Southern California committed to Texas A&M.
STANFORD’S QB: Stanford may its quarterback of the future after Tanner McKee from California picked the Cardinal over Alabama, Texas A&M, BYU and Texas.
But the Cardinal will have to wait two years to see him in uniform.
McKee, the highest rated quarterback still uncommitted entering signing day, is a Mormon and will do a two-year LDS church mission before attending college.
Stanford was No. 38 nationally in 247Sports.com’s rankings.
QUICK WORK: Oregon and UCLA both changed coaches during the offseason. Neither seemed to be hurt in recruiting.
Oregon and coach Mario Cristobal had the nation’s No. 17 overall recruiting class, which included 10 four-star players. Among those was offensive guard Penei Sewell, who chose the Ducks over Alabama and USC.
Sewell, from Saint George, Utah, was considered one of the top offensive linemen in the nation.
"It’s a great example of the type of battles that Oregon is capable of winning. He’s an ultimate difference maker," Cristobal said.
Right behind the Ducks were UCLA and coach Chip Kelly at No. 18 after signing a class that has nine four-star recruits.
Cristobal was promoted from assistant coach after Willie Taggert left for Florida State and Kelly, a former Oregon coach, replaced the fired Jim Mora.
SLOW START: The Pac-12’s two other new coaches did not fare quite as well as Cristobal and Kelly.
Arizona and former Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin had the nation’s No. 59 recruiting class after being unable to land a single four-star recruit. Sumlin was not hired to replace fired Wildcats coach Rich Rodriguez until Jan. 14, leaving a short recruiting window.
Arizona State and coach Herm Edwards also had no four-star recruits, checking in at No. 67 nationally. Edwards, a former NFL coach and ESPN analyst, was hired on Dec. 3 after the Sun Devils fired Todd Graham. Edwards has not coached since being fired by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008 and last coached in college as a San Jose State assistant in 1989.
BEAVERS LOSE ONE, GAIN ONE: Oregon State lost one potential recruit to Nebraska, but lured another one from the Huskers.
First-year Beavers coach Jonathan Smith recruited receiver Andre Hunt, who instead decided to play under new Nebraska coach Scot Frost. The three-star prospect from Lancaster, California, had previously committed to USC.
But Smith did land Matthew Tago, a four-star outside linebacker from Palmdale, California, who was also considering Nebraska.
UTAH TANDEM: Utah should have a nice offensive tandem with the addition of receiver Solomon Enis, one of the top recruits from Arizona. The Ute signed Jack Tuttle, the nation’s No. 5 pro-style quarterback, during the early signing period.
"We’re high on both of those guys," Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. "Went right down to the wire with Solomon today, it was us and one other school. We didn’t know until late last night that we were the ones."
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The new coaches in the Southeastern Conference got their first opportunity to compete with one another over the last two months on the recruiting trail.
All had to navigate the new recruiting calendar and none brought in top 10 classes, according to a composite ranking of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports .
Six SEC teams have new coaches this year if you include Mississippi’s Matt Luke, who served as interim coach last fall. The others are Arkansas’ Chad Morris , Florida’s Dan Mullen , Mississippi State’s Joe Moorhead , Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt and Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher .
Most of the coaches got their jobs just a few weeks before the new December signing period. Pruitt said about half the members of the Volunteers’ 20 signees hadn’t even visited Tennessee’s campus until the weekend after he took the job in early December.
"There was just no time in December (for new coaches) to get things done before the early signing period," said Mike Farrell, the director of recruiting for Rivals. "A lot of them were hiring staff, transitioning from one team to another."
Indeed, Arkansas added only eight players during the early signing period — less than half the total of most Power Five programs. Morris added eight more players Wednesday.
Mullen fared the best of the new coaches with a class that ranked 14th as of early Wednesday evening. Fisher made a late surge to get the Aggies to 17th. Tennessee was hovering around the bottom of the top 20, while Mississippi State and Ole Miss were just inside the top 30. Arkansas was outside the top 50.
That left them far behind some of the SEC’s more established programs. Georgia led the national team recruiting rankings to end the seven-year reign of Alabama, which ranked sixth. Auburn was 12th nationally and third in the SEC.
"I’d say Jimbo Fisher at Texas A&M is probably the guy who kind of wins this cycle among new coaches in the SEC because he was a late hire, it took him a while to get his coaching staff together and the way they closed is really going to springboard them into 2019," said Barton Simmons, the director of scouting for 247Sports. "It really already has."
The new SEC coaches are turning their focus toward 2019 when they have more time to sell recruits on their new schools.
Some notable national signing day events involving SEC schools.
GEORGIA ON THEIR MINDS: The Bulldogs signed the nation’s No. 12 overall prospect according to the 247Sports Composite in cornerback Tyson Campbell on Wednesday and also got linebackers Quay Walker (No. 31) and Otis Reese (No. 87) to make signing day switches. Walker had been committed to Alabama, while Reese flipped from Michigan to Georgia. The Bulldogs have eight Rivals five-star prospects to tie the record held by Southern California’s 2004 class .
STREAK SNAPPED: After finishing top the 247Sports Composite team recruiting standings for seven straight years, Alabama finally fell from the top spot and could end up outside the top five. Alabama beat out LSU for cornerback Patrick Surtain Jr., who was ranked sixth in the 247Sports Composite and was the nation’s top-rated unsigned prospect. But the No. 1 recruit in the state of Alabama — wide receiver Justyn Ross of Phenix City — signed with Clemson instead.
LSU’S TOUGH FINISH: The loss of Surtain to Alabama capped a relatively disappointing recruiting season for LSU. The Tigers were 15th in the 247Sports Composite late Wednesday afternoon. The Tigers had finished no lower than seventh from 2013-17. LSU did sign a pair of top-100 recruits Wednesday in safety Kelvin Joseph (No. 42) and wide receiver JaMarr Chase (No. 84).
OVERCOMING ADVERSITY: Ole Miss was struggling to finish in the top 30 of the national team rankings, but that’s actually a pretty remarkable achievement for a program facing NCAA sanctions that include a 2018 bowl ban and a coach who didn’t have the interim tag removed from his title until late November. "That’s a very good job that I don’t think a lot of people are noticing," Farrell said.
INSTANT IMPACT: Simmons mentioned Surtain and Campbell as two recruits who should make impacts right away, which should fortify the Alabama and Georgia defensive backfields. "Those are guys that I think are very real candidates to be starters on national championship-caliber teams," Simmons said.
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE
Signing day was a lot less frantic than usual around the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Schools mostly topped off their recruiting classes Wednesday, roughly two months after most programs took care of refilling their rosters during the inaugural early signing period.
ACC schools added nearly 300 recruits this offseason, a typical number. But the vast majority of them signed during the December signing period while only 49 of them — 17 percent — waited and signed Wednesday.
Reigning division champions Clemson and Miami also were widely considered the winners on signing day, ranking in the top 10 nationally by several recruiting services. The Hurricanes brought in four more players Wednesday while the Tigers added just two.
Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson — who signed two players after adding 18 in December — called the changes to the signing period "a win-win for everybody.
"I think it helped the players and certainly it helped us. It was so much easier to hit your number," Johnson said. "We’re going to be dead on our (scholarship) number of 85 and I think that’s the first time we’ve been able to do that. There was a lot less drama here at the end and when you have the drama in December it gives you time to recover from it and find somebody to replace.
"And it’s good for the players as well because I think they know of all the schools that come in and throw out a million offers, if they don’t send the papers in December they know the offers weren’t very good."
No question the busiest ACC school was Florida State — which made a significant late push up the rankings with 13 more signees after a league-low seven signed in December. New coach Willie Taggart was hired from Oregon 15 days before the start of the early period.
"I thought our coaches did an unbelievable job of going out on the road, and getting out and working it," Taggart said. "I felt like it would be hard for anyone to say no."
Some things to know about Wednesday’s national signing day:
OVER THE TOP: Clemson overtook Miami in 247sports.com’s conference rankings after WR Justyn Ross, the top-rated player in the state of Alabama, signed with the Tigers, giving them yet another top-10 class. He’s the highest-ranked recruit to leave the state of Alabama since Jameis Winston picked Florida State in 2012. "It’s very rare that the No. 1 player in the state of Alabama leaves, but I’m thankful for this," coach Dabo Swinney said.
BUSY TAGGART: The Seminoles’ new coach "relied big-time on previous relationships" while putting together his first Florida State recruiting class on the fly after taking over for Jimbo Fisher. He said the priority was "getting the coaching staff on board, and them working to build relationships." Florida State’s class was considered outside the top 30 after the early signing date but made a quick ascent up the rankings once the second signing period started.
TOP SIGNERS: Aside from Florida State, the busiest schools Wednesday were North Carolina (six) and Pittsburgh (five), followed by the Hurricanes and North Carolina State with four each. Syracuse and Virginia Tech brought in three players each.
LATE HEELS: North Carolina picked up a couple of late signees on an otherwise drama-free day for the four Tobacco Road schools. The Tar Heels added four-star WR Antoine Green and three-star DT Gavin Lewis on Wednesday afternoon, and those late additions were enough to push UNC’s class to fourth in the ACC in 247sports.com’s rankings.
FAMILIAR NAMES: Florida State signed CB Asante Samuel Jr., the son of the former NFL cornerback. Miami added DB Al Blades Jr., whose late father played for the Hurricanes and in the NFL before his death. Virginia Tech signed OT Luke Tenuta, the son of well-traveled assistant Jon Tenuta. And Boston College kicker John Tessitore is the son of ESPN play-by-play man Joe Tessitore.
NOTRE DAME
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame finished off a top-10 recruiting class by filling positions of need.
After signing 21 players in the early period just before Christmas, the Fighting Irish received six more signed letters of intent Wednesday in areas where the team was thin after player departures at offensive line, running back, wide receiver and defensive back.
In particular, coach Brian Kelly was excited about cornerbacks DJ Brown of Chevy Chase, Maryland, and Noah Boykin from Fairfax, Virginia, and wide receiver Lawrence Keys of New Orleans.
"From across the board depth standpoint at the back end of our defense and at the wide receiver position," Kelly said, "it’s as good as any class we’ve recruited at Notre Dame."
Brown and Boykin brought to seven the number of defensive backs in the class where cornerbacks coach Todd Lyght got late help from new safeties coach Terry Joseph, whose hiring became official on Jan. 30.
"D.J. (Brown) is a true corner (and) we love the intangibles about Noah (Boykin)," Kelly said. Boykin had de-committed from Maryland and Brown was at one time a Virginia commitment.
Keys, whom Kelly called "an explosive playmaker," is the fourth receiver signed in the class that also includes a pair of tight ends. The receiving corps was decimated late in the season and in preparation for the bowl game by injuries and suspensions, including the eventual dismissal of wideout Kevin Stepherson.
Also sending in signed letters of intent Wednesday were offensive linemen Jarrett Patterson of California, and Luke Jones of Little Rock, Arkansas.
The four offensive linemen will have some opportunities to get on the field after the losses of All-Americans Quenton Nelson and Mike McGlinchey, who are expected to be first-round choices in the NFL Draft. Notre Dame also lost long-time offensive line coach Harry Hiestand, who is returning to the NFL Chicago Bears. New Irish offensive line coach Jeff Quinn helped keep Jones in the fold and joined Kelly for an in-home visit that turned Patterson away from new UCLA head coach Chip Kelly.
C’Bo Flemister, a 5-foot-11, 197-pound back from Zebulon, Georgia, an hour south of Atlanta, is a "north/south running back," according to Kelly. Notre Dame’s leading rusher, Josh Adams, left early for the NFL.