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Biggest Winners and Losers of the 2026 College Football Late Signing Window
When it comes to strictly high school football recruiting, there really isn't a ton of action once the new year flips. Those days are over, and January is for the transfer portal.
Still, though, there was a small bit of roster recruiting movement in the late signing period, including an old-school National Signing Day decision from Louisiana prospect Dylan Berymon, who chose Nebraska over Kentucky.
One Big Blue saw a coaching change negatively impact its recruiting class, while another Big Blue coaching change brought some late excitement.
A potential star, under-the-radar quarterback made a big decision, and a handful of players who signed in December were released from their letters of intent. Maybe you had to search for the newsiness, but there were some recruiting headlines to be found.
Here were the biggest winners and losers from the late high school football signing period.
Winner: Nebraska in the Dylan Berymon Sweepstakes
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Let's be real: There hasn't been a lot of smiling in Lincoln, Nebraska recently.
Matt Rhule's rebuild of the proud Cornhuskers program is progressing better than the last few Nebraska coaches, but it's going at a snail's pace, at best.
Wednesday brought a little bit of good news for Huskers fans everywhere as they were the recipients of the biggest recruiting prize remaining on the board in 4-star Louisiana defensive lineman Dylan Berymon.
The massive, 6'2", 330-pound Ouachita Parish High School standout had been committed to Texas in the early signing period before backing off that pledge and reopening things. As the nation's No. 223-ranked prospect and 26th-rated defensive lineman, Berymon was the highest-ranked remaining player out there.
Nebraska went after him and ultimately beat out Will Stein and his hot-on-the-trail Kentucky Wildcats, grabbing a late addition who could play meaningful, early snaps if he's in shape.
This was a good, old-fashioned National Signing Day decision like old times. It's only fitting that a blast-from-the-past program won the day.
Loser: Michigan Wolverines
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The Wolverines hired former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, made some major waves in the transfer portal, and should be OK roster-wise.
But a very strong Wolverines recruiting class took some massive blows in the wake of the Sherrone Moore firing.
Five early signees were released from their letters of intent and found homes elsewhere.
Two of those losses were especially big in 4-star Montana tight end Matt Ludwig, who is a 6'4", 260-pound potential star who wound up at Texas Tech.
Big-time defensive back Andre Clarke Jr. is a Virginia native who wound up at Kentucky and is one of the Wildcats' top defensive recruits.
Interior offensive lineman Bear McWhorter and receiver Brady Marchese left Michigan for Auburn to be part of Alex Golesh's first class with the Tigers. Long snapper Colton Dermer is going to play for Georgia, too.
Any time you have a late, unexpected coaching change, you've got to expect turnover. The Wolverines kept things from tumbling, but it wasn't all positive.
Winner: Ohio State Buckeyes
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For a brief moment in time, things got dicey for Ohio State at the tail-end of the early signing period when it was announced that offensive coordinator Brian Hartline was the new head coach at South Florida.
Suddenly, elite pass-catcher Chris Henry Jr. and fellow top-100 prospect Jerquaden Guilford wasn't quite sure they wanted to be Buckeyes. But after some momentary consideration, both signed with the Buckeyes.
Then, Ohio State got huge news in late December when Legend Bey—who signed with Tennessee but was immediately and obviously unhappy with that decision—was released from his letter of intent and wound up a Buckeye.
Bey is an electrifying athlete from Texas who is the nation's No. 6-ranked player at his position. He was committed to the Vols for a long time, but Ohio State flipped him late in the recruiting process.
His family wanted him in Knoxville, and Bey obliged by signing with the Vols, though his heart was in Columbus. He went public with those feelings, his family ultimately acquiesced, and he's going to be a Buckeye.
Add him to the stable of playmakers for Ryan Day, and Bey's choice was a massive, late win the nation's fourth-ranked class.
Loser: Oregon High School QB Recruiting
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Before Oregon fans get all up in their feels about any negative connotations, let's get one thing straight: No team should feel as strongly about its 2026 quarterback room than the Ducks.
Today's college football world revolves around the transfer portal, and few do it better than Dan Lanning.
Dante Moore is returning to Eugene where he's expected to be the Heisman Trophy frontrunner. He bypassed early first-round money to come back, and Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola seems content to wait his turn and be next in line.
But with portal success comes impatient underclassmen.
Bryson Beaver is a 4-star signal-caller who signed with Oregon in December after being committed for nearly six months, but after all the signal-caller movement in Eugene, he bolted for the Georgia Bulldogs.
Though Beaver's departure technically counts as a portal move, we're including him since he's a '26 recruit.
This is the second consecutive year Lanning lost a high school quarterback who signed in December. Last year, Jaron-Keawe-Sagapolutele flipped from California to Oregon, enrolled, then decided he wanted to be a Bear, transferred, then went on to have a great freshman year in Berkeley.
Oregon is unquestionably happy with its quarterback room, but maybe it needs to just stop recruiting prep signal-callers.
Winner: Oregon, In Every Other Way
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You may think it's a stretch to say Oregon lost at anything given its embarrassment of riches already on campus in Eugene, and pretty much at every other position, too.
I can promise you Dan Lanning isn't disappointed.
When you thought maybe an elite class wasn't going to get any better, the Ducks went out and followed a loaded transfer portal class with two late high school additions that were top players on the board, too.
Brandon Smith, who recently received his fourth star from 247Sports, seemed all set on heading to Arizona, but the Ducks swooped in and plucked him away from the Wildcats in the 11th hour.
Then, the other big prospect remaining on the recruiting board in the '26 class besides Dylan Berymon—4-star defensive lineman Anthony Jones—stunned everybody Wednesday by signing with Oregon instead of Wisconsin, Arizona State or UCLA.
In an odd twist, Jones is the second player with the same name to commit to the Ducks this cycle. The other Jones is the nation's 22nd-rated overall player, a 5-star edge-rusher from Mobile, Alabama.
Many thought the Jones who signed on Wednesday would wind up a Badger, but that wasn't the case. What a class for Lanning.
Winner: Will Stein
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Kentucky has breathed life into a stagnant program with the hiring of Will Stein.
Parting ways with Mark Stoops wasn't an easy decision, but Bluegrass native Stein proved he was ready to run his own program leading some elite offenses at Oregon, and now he's heading back home to enter the SEC gauntlet.
The Wildcats made some splashes in the transfer portal, but they also captured some huge wins on the recruiting trail.
Quarterback recruit Matt Ponatoski was originally going to take a wait-and-see approach before signing, but he liked what he saw from Stein, and the Cincinnati product wound up putting pen to paper.
Stein now has his future developmental signal-caller who will sit and learn behind Notre Dame transfer Kenny Minchey.
Ponatoski was far from the top-rated recruit to head to Lexington in the Stein era, though. Elite cornerback Andre Clarke Jr. headed to Kentucky after being released from his Michigan scholarship papers, giving the Cats a nice defensive piece.
The Wildcats also added some running back depth with 3-star offensive skill-position player Jay'Quan Crawford.
Stein is showing he's got some recruiting chops.
Loser: Programs Trying to Flip Teddy Jarrard
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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish grabbed one of the biggest jewels of the late signing period with reclassifying quarterback Teddy Jarrard, who has some major future upside.
Perhaps as big of a deal is that coach Marcus Freeman hung onto him.
Jarrard didn't really have a full recruiting period to make a decision, and the 6'3", 190-pound Kennesaw, Georgia, product who committed to the Fighting Irish, decided to reclassify from the 2027 class to this year's and immediately saw some hot-and-heavy interest from big hitters.
The instate Georgia Bulldogs went hard after Jarrard trying to keep in the Peach State, and the Indiana Hoosiers tried to sell him on being their quarterback of the future. That's two straight-up powerhouses right there.
But the Irish aren't small potatoes, either, and Jarrard decided he was all set on heading to South Bend, which is huge news. He wasn't considered among the top quarterbacks in this year's class because he was a late addition to it.
Jarrard isn't flying under any radars, though.
When teams like the Bulldogs and Hoosiers want you in their class, you know you've got a future. He may very well be the next guy behind CJ Carr for the Irish. Keeping him in the fold was a huge win.
Winner: UCF Knights, Thanks to Tyren Hornes
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Scott Frost's second stint in Orlando as the head coach as the UCF Knights isn't going to be easy, but this isn't an overnight rebuild.
Now being in the Big 12 is far from the Group of Five program Frost left for his failed stint at his alma mater, Nebraska, and Frost needs to win some major recruiting and transfer portal battles to build a contender. Last year's 5-7 record wasn't awful, but a bowl is expected now.
Winning signatures like the one he got from 4-star pass-catcher Tyren Hornes is a nice start.
The 6'0", 175-pound smooth receiver from Booker High School in Sarasota, Florida, chose UCF during the January Under Armour All-America Game, and Hornes is the only 4-star recruit in a 69th-rated recruiting class.
He's the kind of player who can step right onto the field and play meaningful snaps in 2026, and Frost doesn't have a lot of guys like him.
There weren't a ton of high-water marks in UCF's 2026 recruiting haul, but grabbing Hornes was absolutely the top moment. He's a future stud.
Loser: Deion Sanders
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The shine has worn a bit recently on the buzzy Colorado Buffaloes program rebuilt by coach Deion Sanders, and it's showing in the recruiting world.
Their small class finished rated 67th nationally with very little star power, and the Buffs were dealt another blow on Wednesday when 3-star receiver Xavier McDonald flipped to James Madison and signed with the Dukes.
McDonald was committed to Sacramento State in the early signing period but flipped to Colorado when Sanders hired Hornets head coach Brennan Marion to be his offensive coordinator. McDonald followed his coach but ultimately decided to sign with coach Billy Napier's Dukes.
The Under Armor All-American was the nation's No. 479-rated overall player and 67th-ranked pass-catcher. The Morton, Mississippi, product is a 6'2.5", 160-pound developmental athlete with a lot of skill.
On the surface, is McDonald a huge loss for the Buffs? No, not really. But it's more symbolic of what's going on in Boulder. The optics of losing a player to a Group of Five team isn't great, either.
The buzz is gone, and a program that has just six of last year's 15 signees still on the roster needs to re-find its spark.
Colorado no longer seems like an "it" program.
Winner: Missouri Tigers
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These days, with the 105 players allowed on rosters, you see a lot of January "roster-filling" by programs across the country, but the Missouri Tigers actually received commitments some guys who could help in the future.
Coach Eli Drinkwitz was the beneficiary of finding some jewels nearby who rounded out a strong class for the Tigers.
Trashundon Neal, a 6'2", 180-pound cornerback from Liberty, Missouri, was a developmental commitment who certainly has the size to play in the SEC.
Jocques Felix of St. Louis had been an Iowa State commitment, but after Matt Campbell left for Penn State and essentially the entire Cyclones roster fell apart, Felix went looking for a new home and wound up staying instate with Mizzou. The 6'3", 275-pound defensive lineman was another late-session commit.
Preston Hatfield received an offer from the Tigers and jumped on it, and his Lee's Summit teammate, Karsten Fiene, is heading to CoMo, too. Those two are under-the-radar, late additions, but Drinkwitz has enjoyed success from low-rated commits before.
This was still a very strong late session for Mizzou.
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