College football’s signing day has closed out the 2024 recruiting cycle.

The Georgia Bulldogs have held the top spot in the class rankings for most of the cycle, bolstered by signings from four five-star prospects among 21 ESPN 300 recruits. The Alabama Crimson Tide, Ohio State Buckeyes, Oregon Ducks and Texas Longhorns round out the top five classes. Ohio State was one of the biggest movers since the early signing period. After Nick Saban announced his retirement from Alabama, more than 20 Tide players entered the transfer portal. The Buckeyes landed two of those players — star freshman safety Caleb Downs and five-star 2024 quarterback Julian Sayin. Along with Air Noland, ranked No. 52, Ohio State has two of the top QBs in the class.

We tracked the news and moments throughout Wednesday:

Wrapping up the 2024 recruiting cycle
The Class of 2024 is coming to a close. Not much changed on signing day given how much happened during the early signing period and transfer portal.

 

Which school has the most ESPN 300 recruits?

Georgia: 21

Alabama: 18

Oregon: 17

LSU, Texas: 14

Ohio State: 13

Miami: 12

Oklahoma, Auburn, Penn State, Florida State: 11

Top 10 classes

Georgia
Alabama
Ohio State
Oregon
Texas
Miami
LSU
Oklahoma
Auburn
Florida
Full class rankings

 

Why the class rankings matter?

In the 10 years of the College Football Playoff era, nine of the 10 national champions had a four-year class ranking average better than 10.

While the portal is growing in popularity, this year’s CFP participants still relied heavily on recruited players. Across the four teams in this year’s field, recruited players accounted for 82% of starts.

 

Top players

Cornerback Ellis Robinson IV, the top player in the class, signed with Georgia. He’s the second No. 1-ranked recruit for the Bulldogs in the ESPN 300 era, joining Justin Fields in 2018.

Receiver Jeremiah Smith is slated to attend Ohio State and the only top-five commit not going to an SEC school. He’s the Buckeyes’ first top-10 recruit since having four in the 2021 recruiting class. Smith continues a trend of top talent leaving Florida. In the last 10 cycles, just 7 of 25 top-10 recruits from Florida have stayed in the Sunshine State. Put another way, more top-10 recruits have left the state of Florida (18) than have been from any other state (Texas is 2nd with 14 total top-10 recruits in last 10 cycles).

 

Defensive tackle David Stone is the No. 6 recruit in the ESPN 300 and signed with Oklahoma. He is the highest-ranked defender to sign with Oklahoma in the ESPN 300 era (previously R.J. Washington, No. 11 overall in 2008 class).