The changing landscape of college football means the nation’s premier recruits are no longer signing with the same handful of programs.
That became particularly apparent this week, when the nation’s top-ranked prospect from the high school ranks landed at Vanderbilt, of all places.
Vanderbilt parlayed the first 10-win season in program history into a recruiting coup when Nashville Christian quarterback Jared Curtis decided to stay home and sign with the Commodores. Curtis is the No. 1 overall player in the current signing cycle for the class of 2026, according to composite rankings of recruiting sites compiled by 247Sports.com.
Wednesday was the first day of the early signing period for NCAA Division I football this year, and it’s also when most of the elite prep players make their final choice for a college destination — or at least a starting point, considering the prominence and ease of transferring in the current landscape. Beyond this week’s three-day early period, there is another chance for players coming from high school to sign starting in early February.
“Being here in Nashville and seeing what Vandy has been doing this season has been amazing, and over the past few weeks, I felt more and more that I wanna be a part of that, to be close to home, to play in front of my family and friends and to be what I love to be, an underdog,” Curtis wrote Tuesday in an X post announcing his decision.
Curtis had been committed to Georgia up until this week. He instead is taking a chance that he can help fellow Southeastern Conference program Vanderbilt continue to thrive when star quarterback Diego Pavia departs after this season.
“If you’re interested in inheriting success, if you’re interested in walking into a trophy case that’s already full and a hallway full of NFL players on the walls, there are other programs where you can do that,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea — a Nashville native and former Commodores fullback in his fifth year leading the program — said Wednesday. “If you can walk these hallways and see your picture on the wall, and if you can look at an empty case and (see) the trophies that will go in there, if you want to put your signature on the success, then this is the perfect place.”
Curtis will play the final game of his prep football career Thursday at Chattanooga’s Finley Stadium, where Nashville Christian will face University School of Jackson in the TSSAA Division II-A Blue Cross Bowl state championship game matching 12-0 teams.
The 6-foot-4 225-pound quarterback’s decision wasn’t an aberration. Three of the 247Sports composite’s top five prospects signed with home-state schools generally unaccustomed to acquiring five-star recruits.
Houston got the nation’s No. 3 recruit by signing Keisean Henderson of Legacy the School of Sport Sciences in Spring, Texas. Edge rusher Zion Elee, rated fifth overall, is going from Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy to Maryland.
That represents a sea change from just five years ago, when seven of the 247Sports Composite’s top 10 recruits signed with either Alabama or Ohio State.
“This is where college football is at now,” said Andrew Ivins, the director of scouting at 247Sports. “There has been a flattening of the curve.”
As college programs debate how to construct their rosters in an era of revenue sharing and determine how much to invest in the NCAA transfer portal, high school recruiting has become a different type of game in which blue-blood programs don’t have an exclusive hold on the nation’s top prospects — and might not need it anyway.
“It parallels the NFL,” Ivins said. “Some schools aren’t going to want to tie up 20% of their budget in a quarterback. They’re going to want to use it elsewhere. Everyone’s trying to figure out how to use their money. For programs that haven’t had a ton of success, it’s easy to rally around a program-changing talent and make that investment in hopes of breaking through.”
The No. 1 spot in the 247Sports composite’s team rankings went to the University of Southern California, making this the first time since 2008 that honor has gone to a school from outside the SEC. The Trojans had a huge haul of commitments at 35, with just one five-star prospect in the bunch but more than 20 of the four-star variety.
They were also competing, along with second-ranked Oregon, for the services of receiver Chris Henry, who is No. 10 in the 247Sports composite rankings. Henry previously made a nonbinding commitment to Ohio State — the Buckeyes are the reigning national champions and, like Oregon and USC, yet another Big Ten program — but he didn’t sign Wednesday and was still considering his options.
Independent power Notre Dame was No. 3 in the team rankings, followed by a run of Southeastern Conference schools in Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia. The Buckeyes were No. 7, followed by a pair of SEC rivals in Texas and Texas A&M with Miami rounding out the top 10 as the only Atlantic Coast Conference team inside of it.
Oregon landed six top-50 recruits in offensive lineman Immanuel Iheanacho (No. 16), tight end Kendre Harrison (No. 18), receiver Jalen Lott (No. 22), edge rusher Anthony Jones (No. 26) and safeties Jett Washington (No. 36) and Davon Benjamin (No. 47).
Notre Dame continued its recent pattern of signing sons of former NFL players by adding linebacker Thomas Davis Jr. and receivers Kadon Finley and Devin Fitzgerald. Davis’ namesake father was a three-time Pro Bowl linebacker, Finley’s dad is former Green Bay Packers tight end Jermichael Finley, and Fitzgerald is the son of 11-time Pro Bowl receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
Here’s a brief look at signing day news from each Power Four conference.
ACC: Consider it one more wrinkle in a bizarre year for this conference. The two teams facing off Saturday in the ACC championship game — Duke and Virginia — had the league’s two lowest-rated signing classes as of Wednesday afternoon. Miami, Florida State and North Carolina all ranked ahead of Clemson, which had been the ACC’s heavyweight on the field and on the recruiting trail for much of the past decade.
Big 12: Texas Tech spent the offseason signing elite transfers who have the program on the verge of a College Football Playoff appearance, but it turns out Texas Tech can sign highly rated recruits as well. The Red Raiders had the Big 12’s best signing class and added two top-15 prospects in offensive tackle Felix Ojo (No. 13) and edge rusher LaDamion Guyton (No. 15).
Big Ten: Michigan signed two top-10 recruits in edge rusher Carter Meadows (No. 6) and running back Savion Hiter (No. 8). Henry’s potential wavering on his Ohio State commitment came after South Florida announced it was hiring Buckeyes offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline as its head coach. Penn State’s prolonged coaching search after the firing of James Franklin decimated its class; the Nittany Lions signed just two players Wednesday.
SEC: A name worth knowing is defensive lineman Lamar Brown (No. 2 in the 247Sports composite). He’s committed to LSU but didn’t sign Wednesday as new Tigers coach Lane Kiffin fills out his staff after leaving Ole Miss on Sunday. Tennessee landed two of the nation’s top 11 prospects in quarterback Faizon Brandon (No. 7) and Tristen Keys (No. 11), while Texas added quarterback Dia Bell (No. 10).