How new coaches are faring in early signing period

The majority of the early signing period is now finished so there’s no better time to look at how each of the new Power Five coaches fared.

MORE: Farrell's takeaways | What we learned on the Day 1 | Winners and losers

Florida needed a quarterback - and a spark to its offense - and that’s exactly what Mullen went out and got by flipping four-star QB Emory Jones from Ohio State. Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said it was the biggest commitment of the early signing period since the Gators needed an offensive push so badly. It seemed if Jones flipped, it would be to Alabama, but as Signing Day got closer, the Gators and Florida State had emerged. Florida won out. Mullen seemed to feel out this first Signing Day well and added excellent pieces to start the rebuild.

After a disastrous coaching search, Tennessee finally hired Pruitt and he had a lot of damage control to do with a recruiting class that wondered what was going on. There were departures, but Pruitt and his staff had a busy Signing Day and cleaned up a lot of issues with some talented prospects. The Vols went the JUCO route to sign four-star TE Dominick Anderson, did well in-state with four-star running back Jeremy Banks and OL Jerome Carvin and flipped three-star QB JT Shrout from Cal after a late visit. Tennessee’s class isn’t lighting the world on fire at ninth in the conference, but things could have been worse.

The team recruiting rankings don’t reflect the Rebels’ success. There are things to be excited about in Oxford as Luke did a respectable job late to close out the early signing period. Four-star receiver Elijah Moore flipped from Georgia and he should be an excellent fit in a loaded receiver corps. Ole Miss also added massive pieces at defensive tackle by flipping three-star James Williams from Mississippi State and signing four-star Jalen Cunningham. Signing four-star quarterback Matt Corral, who has oodles of talent, could be huge down the road.

Once Willie Taggart left Oregon after only one season, it was important to quickly hire a quality coach to retain the recruiting class and that’s exactly what the Ducks did in Cristobal. He’s a favorite of the top prospects. The recruiting class did have some departures but it was hardly a mass exodus. Four-star quarterback Tyler Shough, four-star defensive backs Steve Stephens and Jevon Holland and four-star linebacker Adrian Jackson could all be stars. Oregon still has the top-rated recruiting class in the Pac-12.

The Huskers signed all but two of their 13 commitments to lock up a lot of talent and now Frost and his staff will turn to loading up again in February. It’s been a busy few weeks. Nebraska could get immediate help from three-star JUCO running back Greg Bell and flipping four-star quarterback Adrian Martinez from Tennessee could turn out to be important soon. Frost targeted with success the JUCO ranks and some Southeast players to infuse more talent in Lincoln.

The star of Mississippi State’s recruiting class had been committed to Kansas for almost his entire recruitment with much skepticism but flipped during the early signing period and it could be huge for the Bulldogs. High four-star receiver Devonta Jason picked Mississippi State over LSU and many others and he could be the next big-time receiver in Starkville. Credit Moorhead and his staff for not giving up late. With Jason, four-star receiver Malik Heath, four-star quarterback Jalen Mayden and others in the fold, Moorhead’s offense could be humming in the SEC West.

It was a quiet first Signing Day for Kelly and the Bruins, which might have been needed after purging a bunch of commits from the previous regime and reworking the recruiting class in recent weeks. UCLA lost four-star defensive end Abdul-Malik McClain to USC, but flipped four-star linebacker Bo Calvert leading up to Wednesday. UCLA also flipped three-star DT Atonio Mafi from Cal after a late visit. The most important thing to watch: Star recruits Olaijah Griffin, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Stephan Blaylock have yet to sign.

The Seminoles still have a lot of work to do leading up to February’s National Signing Day since they have only nine commits and rank No. 51 nationally, but Taggart added a huge piece late Wednesday night when five-star Jaiden Woodbey flipped from Ohio State. Woodbey took a late visit to Tallahassee and Florida State was always the dream school, so he decided to make the switch. FSU is the only ACC school without double-digit commits and only four of nine players signed, so there’s a lot of work to be done.

It was a relatively quiet early Signing Day for Fisher, which means the Aggies’ coaching staff has a lot of work to do leading up to February. Can Texas A&M land a bunch of high-profile, unsigned prospects over the next few weeks? That’s going to be the biggest question since Texas A&M currently has the No. 12 recruiting class in the SEC ahead of only Ole Miss and Arkansas. Four-star former commit Leon O’Neal is one top target, but there have to be many others as well.

Edwards worked hard down the stretch to keep the recruiting class intact and even though there were some departures, a lot of the top-end prospects stayed with the Sun Devils during a coaching transition that brought a lot of questions from outsiders. Four-star linebacker Reggie Hughes is the biggest fish, but three-star LB Christian LaValle is productive and ASU did well recruiting the state of Texas again. The Sun Devils have the No. 10 recruiting class in the Pac-12, though, so there is still work to do.

The Razorbacks have only 10 commits and one four-star pledge in DB Ladarrius Bishop, so Morris and his staff have a ton of work to do leading up to February to make this class viable. The SEC West is absolutely loaded, so Arkansas needs all the help it can get to compete for the division. It’s going to be a busy February in Fayetteville.

Four-star quarterback Spencer Petras flipped to Iowa, so that was a big loss late in the recruiting process because he has star potential and could have been special in Corvallis. But after interim coach Cory Hall did not land the job, the Beavers did an excellent job of hiring the former Washington offensive coordinator and the class was stabilized. Oregon State is a tough job, especially with a coaching change, but Smith did a decent job during the early period.