Introducing Early Signing Day: Recruiting Thoughts on Georgia, Alabama, Colorado, USC and More

And the phase of early contract signing is just around the corner.

It’s been a fun recruiting cycle with the class of 2025, full of flips, hard-nosed commitments and a lot of movement at the quarterback position.

Everything can become official on Wednesday. We have thoughts.

Let’s dive in.

Note: All rankings are from the 247Sports Composite.

1. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Georgia finish in the top tier in the country for the second straight year as Kirby Smart continues to lead the way in recruiting. But what was going on with Georgia’s quarterback approach this cycle?

The Bulldogs have signed four-star quarterback Ryan Montgomery from Ohio since April, but in recent months they have begun aggressively pursuing several other quarterbacks for 2025. (It’s worth noting that Montgomery tore a ligament in his right leg in the season opener and missed virtually his entire senior season.) In October they offered Hawaii native (and Cal commit) Jaron Keawe Sagapolutele and in November they offered Kamario Taylor State of Mississippi. Then in mid-November they welcomed junior Julian Lewis to visit for the Tennessee game.

They finally found their (second) man on Sunday when Hezekiah Millender, a local three-star prospect from Athens, transferred from Boise State.

At a time when most programs only sign one quarterback per cycle, why were the Bulldogs so determined to add a second player to the position? It’s probably just a numbers game. Georgia has just four scholarship quarterbacks on its 2024 roster and will lose Carson Beck. Adding two QBs in the 2025 class gives the staff some protection in the event one of the underclassmen decides to leave. Additionally, Georgia is pushing to add more dual threats at the position, and Millender falls into that category.

2. In non-quarterback news, Georgia has done a good job of in-state prospects this cycle – which isn’t always the case. The Bulldogs have commitments from four of the state’s top five players and will make it five-for-five if defensive tackle Justus Terry selects the Bulldogs as expected.

Georgia hasn’t signed more than two of the state’s top five players since the 2021 cycle.

3. Last month, Bryce Underwood transferred from LSU to Michigan, Lewis from USC to Colorado and Husan Longstreet from Texas A&M to USC in four days. All three are top players who are among the 50 best players in their class. And all three had been involved in their previous programs for at least seven months. If there’s anything we’ll remember from the 2025 cycle, it’s the drama at the top of the sport.

There were many other notable quarterback developments:

• Four-star Carter Smith decommitted from Michigan amid the Wolverines’ pursuit of Underwood and recently transferred to Wisconsin.

• Five-star left-hander Deuce Knight transferred from Notre Dame to Auburn in October despite being committed to the Fighting Irish since September 2023. And Knight, a Mississippi native, is still heavily pursued by Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss.

• Four-star Blake Hebert transferred from Clemson to Notre Dame shortly after the Fighting Irish Knight lost to Auburn. Clemson responded by trading three-star Chris Denson from Coastal Carolina last week.

• Sagapolutele, who rose from the 600 to the top 100 national rankings, committed to Cal in July after an impressive performance at the Elite 11 Finals but is also considering an offer from Oregon.

• Four-star Tramell Jones Jr. transferred from Florida State to rival Florida.

• Four-star Kevin Sperry, who had been committed to Oklahoma since March 2023, transferred to FSU shortly after Jones moved to Florida.

• Four-star Brady Hart recently reclassified from the 2026 class to the 2025 class and transferred from Michigan to Texas A&M on Friday, giving the Aggies a replacement for Longstreet at USC.

• North Carolina commit Bryce Baker, a top-100 prospect, visited Penn State over the weekend after the Tar Heels announced last week that they were parting ways with Mack Brown.

Phew.

Some of the twists have to do with how early quarterback recruits engage these days. The transfer portal has increased pressure on high school prospects to commit as quickly as possible, even if they aren’t fully ready yet. This is also the reality of the era of names, images and likenesses. As one Big Ten recruiting official put it, “Transactions that you don’t know are coming tend to happen literally within 24 hours of signing day and someone is offered more (money).”

4. Only three five-star prospects are unsigned: Georgia defensive lineman Terry, New Orleans defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart and Utah wide receiver Jerome Myles. Terry is expected to end up in Georgia, but he won’t announce his decision until Friday. On3’s Steve Wiltfong has reported that USC is in a good position with Stewart and that Myles – who decommitted from USC on Sunday – could transfer to Texas A&M.

5. In addition to Terry, Myles and Stewart, six other top 100 candidates are still non-committal:

• Four-star defensive lineman Isaiah Campbell from Durham (NC) Southern is ranked No. 37 nationally and was released by Clemson in September. He reportedly lives in North Carolina and Tennessee.

• Four-star prospect Javion Hilson from Cocoa (Florida) High is the No. 42 prospect and previously committed to both Alabama and Florida State. He recently visited Michigan and is also considering Texas, Texas A&M and several other schools.

• Four-star athlete Michael Terry of San Antonio Alamo Heights is the No. 43 prospect and was named to the top four of Texas, Texas A&M, Oregon and Nebraska in June.

• Four-star Madden Faraimo from JSerra Catholic in Southern California is the No. 61 prospect and No. 3 linebacker. He’s a top target for Notre Dame, but USC is also in the mix.

• Four-star safety Lagonza Hayward is the No. 72 prospect and was just released from Tennessee on Sunday night after writing on social media on Nov. 13 that he would not be transferring. The Georgia native committed to the Vols over Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in July.

• Four-star Philadelphia Imhotep Institute prospect Zahir Mathis, the No. 75 prospect in the country, was decommitted from Ohio State on Nov. 18.

6. USC has released 11 blue-chip players at some point in the cycle, led by Myles and two five-star defensive backs from Georgia – Terry and Isaiah Gibson. Eight of the 11 projects come from the SEC division, once again showing that it can be difficult for programs outside the region to retain elite candidates from the South.

7. Coach Kalen DeBoer’s first full class at Alabama will be a very strong crop – there’s no denying that much. The Crimson Tide are currently second in overall class standings behind Georgia and second in average player rating behind Oregon.

But DeBoer and his staff have done most of their damage with out-of-state prospects.

Of the top 10 players in Alabama, seven (!) are committed to Auburn, two are committed to Ohio State and one (running back Anthony Rogers) is undecided. Neither is committed to the Crimson Tide. Even more confusing: DeBoer and his staff have received a commitment from just one of Alabama State’s 17 four-stars.

Is this a product of a new workforce still gaining a foothold in local high schools? Maybe, but the numbers are still very surprising.

8. Colorado emerged as one of the best stories in college football in 2024, winning nine games and clinching a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship (though the Buffs won’t play in the championship game). Perhaps a more surprising development? The Buffaloes have 15 commitments in the class of 2025 after signing just 11 high school prospects last cycle.

Lewis, the No. 36 player in the class, committed to Colorado on Nov. 21, and the Buffs added four more commitments on Thanksgiving night. Colorado’s class is ranked 32nd nationally and includes seven blue-chip prospects.

9. Georgia Tech has put together a good class led by cornerback Tae Harris (No. 48 overall), who recently transferred from Clemson, and offensive tackle Josh Petty (No. 52). The Yellow Jackets’ class is ranked No. 16 nationally and No. 2 in the ACC, behind only Miami. And remarkably, all nine blue-chippers in the tech class are domestic products.

10. Clemson, meanwhile, only has 14 commits — a low number for a program that doesn’t use the transfer portal often. Dabo Swinney’s team will return the majority of its talent in 2025 and doesn’t have as many spots as usual, but the Tigers – as we’ve seen in recent weeks – need to improve their talent levels across the board.

11. How about Georgia State? Former Georgia assistant Dell McGee took over the program in February and has turned the program’s recruiting efforts around in just nine months.

The Panthers have never signed a top-1,000 prospect out of high school. This year? McGee has received four (!) commitments, and Georgia State has the No. 62 class on the eve of the early commitment period — a jump of over 60 spots from last year’s class.

Three-star prospect Kelan Butler leads the group after three-star offensive tackle Dennis Uzochukwu transferred to Georgia last week. To date, Jamil Muhammad, a quarterback in the 2019 class who is Georgia State’s highest-rated signee in program history, is now a defensive lineman at USC.

(Photos by Kalen DeBoer, Kirby Smart: Gary Cosby Jr., Brett Davis / Imagn Images)