National Signing Day 2016: Recruit Commitments, Comments and Twitter Reaction

Wednesday marks the biggest day of the college football year. National signing day gives every program across the country hope for the future, a feeling that even one major commitment can be the missing piece to winning a national championship.   

Even though a lot of marquee players have already given their verbal commitment prior to national signing day, there was still a wealth of talent able to completely change the dynamic of college football. 

The biggest fish waiting to be reeled in was star defensive tackle Rashan Gary. A New Jersey native, Gary is a 5-star prospect and the top-ranked player overall in 247Sports' composite rankings. He's listed at 6'5" and 293 pounds with a 4.7-second 40-yard dash under his belt. 

Gary had been linked heavily to Michigan leading up to national signing day and gave the Wolverines his commitment on ESPN with his family in tow:

The wins keep coming for Michigan under head coach Jim Harbaugh. He already built a terrific recruiting class before Wednesday, ranked fifth overall by 247Sports, but securing a dynamic game-changer on defense transforms everything. 

If you don't know what Gary is capable of doing, ESPN's Derek Tyson provided a visual reminder from The Opening:

Gary was doing that against offensive tackle Gregory Little, whom 247Sports ranked as the No. 3 overall prospect in this year's class. 

Landing Gary also saved Harbaugh the agony of losing a high-profile recruit at his Michigan recruiting party. Jim Weber, formerly of Lost Lettermen, provided what the scene may have looked like at that party with one famous Michigan alum:

This was an actual scene from the Wolverines' party, featuring former Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland that needs no introduction, per The Players' Tribune:

While the Wolverines certainly look a lot better in recruiting rankings now, their rival Ohio State is among the top classes this year. According to 247Sports' rankings, the Buckeyes own the nation's fourth-ranked class with 25 total commitments, including 18 rated at least 4-star prospects. 

The crown jewel of Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer's class this year is defensive end Nick Bosa, brother of Joey Bosa. The younger Bosa is the eighth-ranked player overall and plays on the right side of the line. 

Even though Joey is taking his skills to the NFL, possibly as the No. 1 pick in April's draft, Meyer made it clear there won't be any lapse in having Nick on Ohio State's defensive line, per Bill Landis of Cleveland.com:

While not surprising, it's not an insignificant statement for Meyer to make because Bosa suffered a partially torn ACL in November. 

Bosa's father told Ari Wasserman of Cleveland.com it will "be close" if his son is going to be ready when Ohio State opens fall camp in August: "He's doing fantastic. Part of it is having the best surgeon in the world, part of it is great genes and part of it is his sick work ethic."

One interesting recruiting point for Meyer, per Kenny Roda of WHBC 1480 in Canton, Ohio, is how well Ohio State's head coach does in his current home state and former home state:

There are many reasons Meyer is successful as a head coach, not least of which is his ability to take care of his own backyard. 

While Ohio State can bask in the glow of being No. 4 right now, two programs that came into Wednesday in low-key fashion have made a lot of noise as the hours have progressed, per ESPN College Football:

Low key is certainly a relative term for Alabama. It's become habit for the Crimson Tide to boast one of the nation's two- or three-best recruiting classes every year. 

The big jump early in the day for Alabama was scoring inside linebacker Ben Davis, who immediately endeared himself to fans in Tuscaloosa with his choice of head gear on ESPN:

According to ESPN Stats & Info, Davis' commitment also continued Alabama's trend of securing top-ranked players at various positions:

Davis also gives Alabama head coach Nick Saban some insurance at inside linebacker with 2015 SEC Defensive Player of the Year Reggie Ragland graduating. 

By the end of the day, the Crimson Tide were back where they are accustomed to being—atop 247Sports' national composite rankings with 24 total commits and 17 of them being at least 4-star prospects. 

Despite those good vibes, don't try telling Saban that his program had the best recruiting class, per ESPN's Alex Scarborough:

One of these days Saban is going to crack a joke or pretend to smile after having a good recruiting class. We know the usually stoic coach is capable of showing his teeth in some sort of smiling shape, but it seems to take a national title for that to happen. 

Staying in the SEC for a moment, any talk of the conference being down has been greatly exaggerated based on recruiting numbers, per SEC Network:

Moving to the other team mentioned in the ESPN College Football tweet, Texas and head coach Charlie Strong desperately needed something good to happen following back-to-back seven-loss seasons. 

Bruce Feldman of FoxSports.com believes the Longhorns' surge is the biggest story on national signing day:

"

The Longhorns made a big move especially when you consider that three weeks ago all the major online recruiting services had UT ranked in the 30s. As Stew Mandel and I discussed on The Audible back then, those rankings shouldn’t have come as a shock given that Texas had just come off a dismal 5-7 season where the Longhorns didn’t even make a bowl game; that there was a staff shake-up involving another offensive scheme change; and that head coach Charlie Strong’s job status had been a hot topic there all fall.

"

The Longhorns' bump came thanks to securing a lot of help on defense, including safety Brandon Jones (No. 40 overall), outside linebackers Jeffrey McCulloch (No. 59 overall) and Erick Flowers (No. 75 overall) and defensive tackle Chris Daniels (No. 183 overall). 

One thing those players have in common is they are all from Texas. Strong coaches in a football hotbed and should have no problem adding impact players in his home state, as he proved capable of doing this year. 

More encouraging for fans in Austin, Strong sent a text message to Bonnie Bernstein of Campus Insiders about his plans after a big national signing day:

Strong got a bum rap for Texas' problems the last two years, but he was put in a no-win situation. He was still working primarily with players brought in to run Mack Brown's system, so now the 55-year-old has been able to build his roster. 

History also looks favorably on Strong entering 2016. He went 7-6 in each of his first two seasons at Louisville before going a combined 23-3 the next two years, which led to him getting the job at Texas. 

Another national powerhouse somehow managing to have a quietly successful national signing day is Clemson. The Tigers should be cashing in after playing for a national title last month, but the way head coach Dabo Swinney and his staff are going about it is unusual. 

While other top classes are built on high-ceiling talent and depth, Clemson is virtually all the former. The reigning ACC champions are tied with USC and Georgia for the fewest commitments (20) among top-10 classes, but 13 players are rated as 4- of 5-star prospects. 

Bumping Clemson into the top-tier group was a commitment from star cornerback Trayvon Mullen. The tall cornerback also gave Swinney another boost in the state of Florida, where he has been fantastic lately, per ESPN Stats & Info:

Making Mullen's commitment even sweeter for the Tigers is they beat out ACC rivals Florida State and Louisville for his services.

The Seminoles won't be shedding a tear over losing Mullen because they still have 247Sports' No. 2 class in the country, but the sting of seeing Clemson get better at their expense does put a damper on the party in Tallahassee. 

Moving further down the 247Sports' composite rankings list, Stanford is quietly becoming a recruiting power. The Cardinal can't compete with a lot of schools in the prospect race because of rigid academic standards for the program, but head coach David Shaw has created a terrific system that works. 

Shaw scored the nation's No. 2 tight end Kaden Smith and No. 3 pro style quarterback KJ Costello. The latter's commitment provides a new wrinkle in the rivalry between Stanford and USC, per Anthony Herron of ESPN:

The quarterback-tight end dynamic at Stanford has been fruitful recently, starting with Andrew Luck-Coby Fleener in 2011 and Kevin Hogan-Austin Hooper in 2015. Costello and Smith have a lot to live up to, but their pedigrees bode well for keeping the trend alive. 

Costello is going to get plenty of opportunities to prove himself as Stanford's next star, with ESPN's David Lombardi noted Shaw referred to his incoming freshman as "our quarterback of the future."

That future is going to come quickly with Hogan finishing his tenure with the Cardinal and other California programs USC and UCLA boasting strong recruiting classes. The Trojans and Bruins each finished in the top 12 in 247Sports' composite recruiting rankings. 

One of USC's top commits was 5-star cornerback Jack Jones, who had some help announcing his college intentions from a famous Trojans fan (per Lindsey Thiry of the Los Angeles Times):

UCLA is bringing back star quarterback Josh Rosen after a successful freshman campaign in which he threw for 3,670 yards and 23 touchdowns, so things are looking up in Los Angeles for head coach Jim Mora. 

College football's future takes shape on national signing day. All of the traditional powers expected to dominate in recruiting have held their own, but the field looks deeper now than it has in a long time.

Texas is on its way back, Michigan is having a fantastic run with Harbaugh, and Clemson is dazzling with its ability to land impact players. The landscape in college football is changing with great options for elite players to choose from, so success no longer means having the best class. 

It's all about finding the best players who fit in with a system. That's reflected in Wednesday's signing day results. 

Recruiting and commitment info per 247Sports unless otherwise noted.