College football's early signing period starts Wednesday and runs through Friday.
Recruits are able to sign national letters of intent to the college of their choice, locking them in to that school. Signing the letter of intent prevents other college coaches from communicating with them and shuts down the prospect's recruiting process.
This is the third year of the early signing period, while the other signing day coincides with the first Wednesday in February. Coverage beings Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET on ESPN2 and will switch to ESPNU from noon to 3 p.m.
The early signing period has become more and more crucial to the recruiting process each year, as we have seen the majority of FBS prospects sign in December. In 2017, 71% of FBS prospects and 221 of the ESPN 300 recruits signed early.
Those numbers increased last year, when about 77% of FBS prospects and 260 ESPN 300 recruits signed in December. After last year's early signing period, there were only 14 ESPN 300 recruits who were both unsigned and uncommitted.
Those numbers show why coaches are viewing this December signing period as the only signing day. If prospects are committed, many coaches are expecting those recruits to sign now rather than wait until February.
The large number of prospects signing means most programs will have their 2020 classes wrapped up by the time Friday is over. It also can pose a problem to any programs that have gotten behind or missed on their initial targets.
No matter what situation coaches find themselves in, it's about to happen -- fast. To catch you up on what has happened so far, what could happen and where teams stand, here's a look at what to watch for on Wednesday.
Current class rankings
As it stands, Alabama has the top-ranked class, followed by Ohio State, Clemson, LSU and Georgia to round out the top five. Texas, Auburn, Penn State, Michigan and Texas A&M make up the rest of the top 10 heading into the week.
Those rankings will likely change by the end of the early signing period, as there are some highly ranked recruits planning to announce their commitments.
In the 2019 class, from Dec. 12 -- before the early signing period started -- until the end of the signing period, we saw Georgia move up from No. 3 to 2, Michigan move up from 5 to 4, Oklahoma move up from 10 to 8 and Florida make a big jump from 20 to 16. There is a lot that can still change this time around as well.
What will be interesting this cycle is that there seems to be a legitimate race for the No. 1 class. Sure, teams such as Alabama ran away with the top spot in years past, but there are a few teams that could move up and take it from the Crimson Tide this week.
While Georgia is sitting at No. 5 and has some big names still on its board, the Dawgs have only 14 recruits, whereas Alabama has 24, Ohio State 25, Clemson 21 and LSU 23. So it's unlikely Georgia will be able to move up enough just from a quantity standpoint.
Ohio State, Clemson and LSU, however, do have a chance. The Buckeyes might be at a disadvantage simply because the class is nearly full and there isn't much left to add, while Clemson and LSU both have multiple ESPN 300 and five-stars still listing them as their final school.
Who's signing early?
With big targets remaining in those classes, that brings us to who is left uncommitted and who is planning to sign early.
LSU, already sitting at No. 4, has the top-ranked uncommitted prospect, defensive end Jordan Burch, listing the Tigers as a finalist in his group. Burch is the No. 5 recruit overall and is also considering South Carolina, Clemson, Alabama and Georgia.
LSU also has a chance to land ESPN 300 linebacker Phillip Webb, the No. 25-ranked recruit overall, who also has Alabama and Florida on his list. The Tigers are also in on ESPN 300 offensive lineman Marcus Dumervil, who is still considering Florida, Louisville and LSU.
Burch, Webb and Dumervil are announcing their commitments on Wednesday.
Clemson has the No. 2 class overall, but the Tigers have some big-name prospects they could land as well. Burch is listing Clemson in his top group, as is five-star linebacker Justin Flowe, who is also interested in Miami, Oregon and USC.
Flowe will also announce his decision on Dec. 18, the first day to sign.
The Buckeyes' class might nearly be full, but they are still in a battle with rival Michigan, as well as Georgia, to land ESPN 300 quarterback C.J. Stroud out of California. Stroud is one of only six ESPN 300 quarterbacks still on the board, joining Jeff Sims, who recently decommitted from Florida State.
Outside of those schools, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M all have a shot at adding to their classes.
Among those signing early, Flowe, Webb, Dumervil, Arian Smith and E.J. Smith will all be announcing their commitments on ESPN's networks.
Signing but waiting to announce
An interesting twist to this year's early signing period: It appears more and more recruits will sign their national letters of intent but will attempt to wait to announce their decision until January at the high school All-America games. The prospects will sign with their school, which means the coaches will know they are part of the class, but won't let the fans in on it until the Under Armour game on Jan. 2 and the All-America game on Jan. 4.
Cornerback Kelee Ringo, a five-star recruit ranked No. 11 overall, falls in this category. Ringo is considering Georgia and Oregon, among other schools, and will sign early but won't announce until Jan. 4. Among other ESPN 300 recruits, wide receiver Xzavier Henderson, defensive back Darion Green-Warren, whom Michigan has a good shot at landing, and defensive back Vito Tisdale will all announce Jan. 4.
Tight end Darnell Washington and running back Zachary Evans, both five-star recruits, are planning to sign this week but won't announce their decisions until Jan. 2, along with ESPN 300 defensive back Dontae Manning and running back Daniyel Ngata.
In total, there are only 52 uncommitted ESPN 300 recruits as of Monday night. That isn't a ton of top prospects to spread around, especially considering not all of them will be signing early.
Who's not signing
This is where things get tricky for both the schools and the prospects -- when a recruit decides not to sign. Some recruits who are committed and not signing leave the door open for other schools to come in and try to flip them to their school.
ESPN 300 wide receiver Rakim Jarrett is currently committed to LSU but is not planning to sign early. He has Alabama and Maryland trying to flip him, so that will be something LSU has to deal with in January.
Oklahoma commit Reggie Grimes, an ESPN 300 linebacker, said he is not planning to sign until February, although he only recently committed to the Sooners.
Among the uncommitted prospects who have said they will wait until February to sign is ESPN 300 defensive end Alfred Collins, with whom Texas is heavily involved. Oklahoma is trying to move up with him as well.
ESPN 300 recruits Jalen Berger, Andy Boykin and McKinnley Jackson are also waiting until February.
Among the quarterbacks, ESPN 300 Robby Ashford recently decommitted from Ole Miss and is now planning to wait until February to sign. Fellow ESPN 300 quarterback Chandler Morris is also waiting.
Morris is the son of Chad Morris, who was recently fired as head coach at Arkansas. The younger Morris was committed to the Hogs but decommitted once his father was let go. Now his father is the offensive coordinator at Auburn, so the Tigers are in the mix, as well as Oklahoma and a few other schools.
How the early signing day relates to college football
Each of the past seven national champions averaged a top-10 recruiting class in the four years leading into that championship, and all but one had a top-five class two years before winning the title.
Since so many of the prospects are signing in December, these few days could help dictate who wins at the highest level over the next few seasons.
With the top five currently consisting of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, LSU and Georgia, it seems that some familiar names could stay at the top. It also gives a picture of why some teams have slumped in recent years.
USC, which recently announced it would retain head coach Clay Helton, for example, is currently not ranked in the top 40. In fact, the Trojans have steadily gone down year after year. They were ranked third in 2015, 11th in 2016, fifth in 2017, seventh in 2018 and 19th last year.
A big reason for that drop is the number of ESPN 300 prospects from California who have left the state in the past few classes. In 2019, 24 of the 33 ESPN 300 recruits from California chose out-of-state schools.
Last year, nine of the top 10 in-state prospects chose an out-of-state school, including the No. 1-ranked prospect in the country: defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, who signed with Oregon.
In the current class, none of the 16 ESPN 300 prospects from California who have already announced their decisions committed to USC. Only two are committed to a California school: Stanford.
That will need to change if USC wants to turn things around.
Texas is right on the bubble of that top five right now, sitting at No. 6. This has been an excellent recruiting cycle for the Longhorns, who had the No. 5 class in 2019 and No. 3 class in 2018. That was after ranking 33rd in the 2017 class, so the recruiting rankings would suggest there is more talent headed to Austin in the next few seasons.
Auburn has 10 ESPN 300 commitments, while Penn State, Michigan and Texas A&M all have nine, which will help bulk up their rosters.
All of those numbers will be important to every program as coaches look to improve their rosters during this crucial week.