Merry Flipmas to all that celebrate! There had been a sense of excitement around 2022 National Signing Day, and the opening salvo of the early signing period for the 2023 recruiting class did not disappoint. Which teams dominated the early going, and which teams were devastated by the decisions of the nation’s premier high school talents?
National Signing Day 2022 | Winners
Oregon Ducks
Whether it was the allure of the green and yellow uniform, or the temptation of something else that’s green and rhymes with honey, the Oregon Ducks absolutely dominated on National Signing Day. More than one head coach intimated that the Pac-12 powerhouse may have used financial muscle in the NIL arena to lure players to the west coast, but no one inside Autzen Stadium is going to complain about how they attracted some of the top prospects from the CFN Fusion recruiting rankings.
Oregon was the first team to strike on National Signing Day, flipping quarterback Austin Novosad out of Dripping Springs High School, Texas. Originally committed to Baylor, the 6’3″, 185-pound passer is a top-20 prospect at the position according to the CFN Fusion recruiting rankings and helped soften the blow of losing Dante Moore to UCLA earlier in the week.
MORE: Top 10 National Signing Day Commitments of All Time
Novosad was just the first of a series of sensational signings for the Ducks. Oregon dipped back into Texas waters, landing standout safety Peyton Bowen. The 16th-ranked player in the CFN Fusion recruiting rankings, the 6’0″, 185-pound defensive back was the crown jewel of Notre Dame’s 2023 recruiting class until the Ducks swooped in and swayed him to swap navy and gold for green and yellow. Dan Lanning’s team also swiped RB Jayden Limar from the Fighting Irish.
While adding LSU-committed cornerback Daylen Austin to the 2023 recruiting class was another fantastic flip, it was the capture of highly-rated edge recruit Matayo Uiagalelei that finished the day in dominant fashion for the Ducks.
The 6’5″, 265-pound pass rusher out of Bellflower, CA, is the 35th overall prospect in the CFN Fusion recruiting rankings and the fifth-ranked EDGE recruit. In the week where Kayvon Thibodeaux dominated in the NFL, Oregon gets his long-term replacement.
Auburn Tigers
Love him or loathe him, you can’t deny that Hugh Freeze has made an immediate impact at Auburn. The former Liberty head coach has his hands all over this Tigers 2023 recruiting class, as they emerged from National Signing Day with a handful of high-ranked prospects in the 2023 recruiting class.
A flurry of flips will define Auburn’s 2022 National Signing Day. It started with Keldric Faulk, an EDGE prospect with a CFN Fusion grade of 95.876 who was just outside the top 100 in our 2023 recruiting rankings. Freeze had reportedly worked hard to flip Faulk from FSU, and his efforts paid off.
The Tigers also snagged cornerback Kayin Lee from under the noses of Ohio State. Lee is a top 250 player on our 2023 recruiting rankings, with a CFN Fusion grade of 93.467. He was one of a handful of high school recruits that Auburn had targeted from the Georgia area. Lee brings an eye-popping athleticism and physicality blend to the Tigers’ secondary.
Alabama Crimson Tide
By their ridiculously high standards, the Alabama Crimson Tide suffered a disappointing 2022 college football season. Not only did they miss out on a place in the SEC Championship Game, but they also failed to secure a place in the College Football Playoff for just the second time in the four-team format.
On National Signing Day, Alabama put the foundations in place to ensure that doesn’t happen again anytime soon. When the dust settles, Alabama will likely have the top-ranked 2023 recruiting class. It started in advance of signing day, flipping the No. 1 offensive tackle on our rankings — Kaydn Proctor — from Iowa.
Flipping Proctor gave Nick Saban two of the top-10 recruits from our 2023 recruiting rankings after Mill Creek High School safety Caleb Downs — the second overall recruit with a 99.676 CFN Fusion grade — put pen to paper on National Signing Day.
Downs led a slew of the top defensive recruits in the class. Alabama also landed Carver duo James Smith (14th overall) and Jaquavious Russaw (18th overall) while snagging highly-touted Berkeley Prep EDGE Keon Keeley. RB Justice Haynes rounded off a class of six prospects that feature in the CFN Fusion Top 25.
UTSA Roadrunners
It would be easy to focus these winners on the programs at the top of the Power Five, but we wouldn’t be living up to our promise of providing national college football coverage at all levels without shining a light on some Group of Five success from 2022 National Signing Day.
UTSA is set to have its best-ever recruiting class while bringing in three of the top five highest recruits in program history. After winning the Conference USA crown for two consecutive seasons, Jeff Traylor’s team is making waves. Now, they have the recruiting success to go alongside it.
MORE: Arch Manning Officially Signs With Texas Longhorns
Daniel Ogundipe, a 6’5″, 285-pound OT out of Iowa Central CC, is the Roadrunners’ highest-ranked acquisition in program history. UTSA bolstered their recruiting class with several JUCO prospects, alongside their highest-ranked 2023 high school recruit, Jameian Buxton. The 6’2″, 315-pound defensive lineman has a CFN Fusion grade of 81.429.
UTSA led the way in Group of Five success on National Signing Day. They were comfortably the highest-ranking program from outside the Power Five level, a feat to be celebrated. However, Traylor has his sights set on even greater success and was perturbed by the number of hometown prospects following the money out of San Antonio.
National Signing Day 2022 | Losers
Oklahoma Sooners
It wasn’t a case of “flip, flip, hooray” for every team on National Signing Day. While highly-ranked safety Bowen came into the day committed to Notre Dame, many expected the Texan native to sign on the dotted line with the Sooners.
Not only did Oklahoma miss out on Bowen, but they also lost out to bitter rivals Texas in the race to sign Skyridge High School standout Tausili Akana — the 76th-ranked prospect in the CFN Fusion 2023 recruiting rankings.
It wasn’t all sorrow for the Sooners, however, as they landed four prospects from inside the top 100 of our 2023 recruiting rankings, led by quarterback Jackson Arnold. Despite this, the two big losses are going to sting for a while in Norman.
Michigan Wolverines
The tide should be turning in the Big Ten. In fact, when 2024 quarterback Dylan Raiola de-committed from Ohio State amid several other recruiting disappointments for the Buckeyes, it very much appeared that we were seeing a changing of the guard atop the conference. Michigan has won the conference title in two consecutive seasons and represented the Big Ten in the CFP in back-to-back years.
Yet, that hasn’t translated to recruiting success — at least not on National Signing Day. Wolverines fans can argue that they’ve been the masters of the transfer portal in recent weeks, but they landed just one top 100 high school prospect on the first day of the early signing window.
Cole Cabana, a 6’0″, 180-pound RB with a CFN Fusion grade of 96.664, led a dense class that lacked star power at the top.
