College football recruiting: National Signing Day heroes, zeroes for 2023

The first big day of the 2023 college football recruiting season is here as the Early Signing Period opened up, and while there's still plenty of action to come, we saw a series of bombshell flips, signings, and commits across the sport.

Picking so-called winners and losers isn't an exact science at this stage.

"Losers" have still signed important prospects and are in line to add more — Ohio State, for instance, which lost some key recruits but is still very happy with its haul otherwise — while "winners" can still miss out on targets and fall in the rankings.

With all that said, here is our rough estimation of the winners and losers from across the country as the college football recruiting calendar moves through the early signing period.

National Signing Day heroes

Oregon: There was arguably no bigger winner in the early period than the Ducks, who flipped 5-star quarterback Dante Moore from UCLA during the week before NSD started. That kicked off some serious momentum which saw Oregon flip quarterback Austin Novosad from Baylor and then move into the top 10 nationally by signing 5-star edge Matayo Uiagalelei away from USC and Ohio State, flipping 4-star back Jayden Limar from Notre Dame, and corner Daylen Austin away from LSU. Peyton Bowen, an elite safety who Oregon flipped from ND then changed course and went to Oklahoma, instead.

More: College football recruiting rankings for 2023 Early Signing Period

Alabama: Nick Saban reminded college football that he's still on top of his game by signing the consensus No. 1 recruiting class, a group that boasts a 96 percent "blue-chip ratio," which measures how many players are 4- or 5-star recruits a school has signed. Just one of the Tide's 27 gains isn't ranked as a 4 or better, per 247. Bama inked some serious defensive back talent that includes No. 1 safety Caleb Downs and two top 10 running backs in Richard Young and Justice Haynes, and flipped two major 5-stars: OT Kadyn Proctor from Iowa and edge Keon Keeley from Notre Dame.

Georgia: The nation's premier defensive team the last two seasons, Georgia wanted to use the 2023 recruiting class to build further on that foundation. That it did by signing Venice (Fla.) edge Damon Wilson — named a 5-star at Rivals and On3 — away from Ohio State, a vital piece who should pair well with Samuel M'Pemba and Gabriel Harris, all of whom should terrorize SEC quarterbacks the next few years.

Texas: Having the No. 1 overall player in the 2023 recruiting class sign his National Letter of Intent is always a coup, and after signing consensus 5-star quarterback Arch Manning, the Longhorns made even bigger waves defensively, securing the pledge of top 35 pass rusher Tausili Akana away from OU and 5-star, No. 1 ranked linebacker Anthony Hill.

National Signing Day zeroes

Notre Dame. A mixed result for the Irish on the day, but Marcus Freeman lost notable pieces, including 5-star safety Peyton Bowen to Oregon, 5-star edge rusher Keon Keeley to Alabama, in addition to five other 4-star players who went elsewhere. Granted, it's not a great look, but on the other hand, the Irish have also been gathering solid talent recently, this year boasting an 83.3 percent blue-chip ratio. But as good as the class looked generally, losing those other recruits hurts.

Texas A&M: A year after signing what 247Sports called the greatest recruiting class in modern history, most of the blue-chip talent appears to be headed out of College Station, not into it right now. On top of the nearly two-dozen players who transferred away from the Aggies, the program also signed just two of the top 10 prospects from the state of Texas; the Longhorns signed three, and Alabama, two. That helped end A&M's run of four straight top 10 recruiting classes.

Ohio State: Coming into National Signing Day, the Buckeyes had their sights on potential difference-makers at edge and defensive back, but watched as both Matayo Uiagalelei and Damon Wilson landed elsewhere; the former at Oregon and the latter at Georgia, and then cornerback Kayin Lee picked Auburn over OSU. The addition of defensive end Joshua Mickens, top 20 at the position, was important, as certainly were receiver pickups like Brandon Inniss and Carnell Tate, but the de-commits still loom large: back Mark Fletcher, safety Dijon Johnson, and quarterback Brock Glenn, with Ryan Day facing questions about those losses.

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