Say goodbye to 2025.
Well, from a recruiting standpoint that is.
Both signing days are over, December's early ink-frame and February's now-supplemental session.
Consider: Kansas, Oregon and USC all already have double-digit commitments for their 2026 recruiting hauls.
But what does it mean for high school prospects? How many are being left behind, most notably at the FBS level.
The data sets are not yet complete, but there's plenty of debate.
Evidence shows that in an era when FBS programs can sign as many prep prospects as they wish -- it's been almost three years since the NCAA's decision to remove to capped 25-scholarship classes in football and allow signing to an 85-man, soon-to-be-105-man scholarship roster -- fewer and fewer are even signing 25.
In 2021, statistics reveal some 400 fewer players signed FBS scholarships than in the previous two cycles. And NCAA portal entries have soared in that time; more than 11,000 players entered the NCAA Transfer Portal during the December 2024 window.
Six programs from the 12-team College Football Playoff field that capped the 2024 season signed fewer than 25 high school prospects in their '25 classes, with Clemson the lowest in bringing in 15 preps in a middle-of-the-pack recruiting class.
Perhaps more telling: 11 of the 12 CFP participants are bringing in more transfers in this latest class than they did in 2020. Tennessee is the lone exception, with four additions via the NCAA Transfer Portal in 2020 and again in this class.
Shoutout Penn State, which signed 27 prep prospects in each of the two classes examined. The Nittany Lions didn't take any transfers in 2020 and added six in this class. Ohio State added 26 high schoolers in both classes and from two transfers in 2020 to a still-modest six in 2025.
Let's take Purdue, for example. The Boilermakers are entering Year 1 of a significant rebuild under Barry Odom. The program signed 23 prep players in 2020; it pulled in a dozen in this class.
That's a national trend, by the way, on leaning more into Portal acquiisitions.
And this much is clear: it's tougher than ever for non-blue chip prospects to find their collegiate homes coming out of high school.
How much does that benefit FCS programs? What about NCAA Division II?
Many coaches, general managers and personnel staff around college football tell FootballScoop that the current landscape almost certainly is going to benefit the NCAA divisions just below the FBS level.
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