National Signing Day 2013: Biggest Losers on Recruiting Trail

While Mississippi and Florida State were some of the big winners to come out of national signing day yesterday, there were some schools who were not as lucky, and had a number of players slip through their fingers.

USC

While there is no debating that USC landed some solid recruits, considering all 12 of of them were either 4- of 5-star recruits on Rivals.com, they still lost on some key players that could have set them over the top on Saturday.

The Trojans lost out prior to national signing day even started, when 5-star defensive back Jalen Ramsey decided to go to Florida State over USC.

USC was also slated to get 4-star defensive end Torrodney Prevot, but lost him to Pac-12 rival Oregon.

Lane Kiffin's squad also lost out to their cross-town rival UCLA, when they were able to sign 4-star defensive end Kylie Fitts, who was previously committed to USC.

While USC was able to grab a number of very good players, and possibly starters in 2013, their class could have been much better.

Missouri

According to Rivals.com, Missouri made it into the top 40 list of recruiting classes this year.

However, they ended up last in the SEC, even behind teams like Arkansas and Kentucky.

In the highly competitive SEC, Missouri can't afford to be any farther behind. 

The Tigers failed to make any big signings in some of the key southern states like Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, states that Alabama and Ole Miss shined in.

Missouri's class would have been fine in almost any other conference, but in the SEC, it simply doesn't stand up to some of the other teams.

Louisville

The Cardinals had a tough time following up their Big East title and victory in the Sugar Bowl this year with a strong recruiting class.

In the Big East, the Cardinals ranked fourth according to Rivals.com, behind teams like Syracuse and Pittsburgh, two teams who are set to leave the conference for the ACC before the season starts.

Louisville lost out to Miami in the pursuit of All-American linebacker Jermaine Grace, and they got skipped over by 4-star defensive end Jason Hatcher, who chose Kentucky over the Cardinals and USC.

In terms of the conference, Louisville won't be in too bad in shape heading into the season, but they certainly could have shown up in a bigger way in a conference that is on the decline.