From the rich getting richer…To a battle between in-state foes…To a National Signing Day’s flip filled finale, this year’s recruiting cycle left us with tons of story lines heading into spring practices. It’s clear from the classes of Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Clemson, and Oklahoma that some of the nation’s marquee programs aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Other programs like Texas A&M and Florida continued to cement their status as teams on the rise, while Tennessee’s and Maryland’s classes held promise for the future. Ohio State’s new head coach, Ryan Day, wasn’t able to finish a smallish class the way he hoped, he fared much better then UCLA’s Chip Kelly. Kelly seems to have lost his magic golden touch on the recruiting trail.

Let’s take a look at some takeaways from NSD, 2019 as we close the book on yet another crazy recruiting cycle.

Chip Kelly HAS to Fix His Recruiting Tactics

Bruins fans didn’t expect this trash when they won the Chip Kelly sweepstakes last off-season now. Did they? Kelly finished signing a class that is ranked 43rd in the nation and just seventh in the Pac-12. The group of 18 recruits who signed is made up of just ONE 4-star player. Even if their are a few options left, the class is basically dead in the mud.

On Wednesday, UCLA signed TE Micheal Martinez, wide out Charles Njoku and LB Noah Keeter. The program completely missed out on Tuasivi who signed with USC and Kenyon Reed who signed with Kansas State. I’m sorry but if you lose out on a recruit to KANSAS STATE you should just quit coaching football Chip.

This is the first time since 2011 that the Bruins have finished outside the top 20 in the nation. This makes you think, will Chip Kelly ever be able to regain his recruiting magic that he had during his heydays at Oregon? It’s for sure hard to envision after seeing how his first full class at UCLA turned out.

Late Signing Flips are a Sign of Crazy Things to Come 

Get use to this fact that flipping is going to be the norm because of the early signing period moving forward in the coming years. With such a watered-down group of elite players available in the late periods, so many recruits are choosing to sign with their schools in December. It’s going to turn into a no-holds-barred, free-for-all slug fest for schools going after the top recruits still left on the board. I WANT TO SEE SOME BLOOD!

What you’ll have in the next several years is what we saw on Wednesday with so many flips. It’s the new norm in college football. Recruits are going with the program that sweeps them off their feet and entering the transfer portal if that doesn’t work. Welcome to college football in the year 2019 folks, y’all enjoying it?

Some of the high profile flips that happened yesterday were Khris Bogle and Christian Williams. They flipped from Alabama to Florida and Miami respectively. 5-star, George Pickens, was a longtime commit to Auburn but ended up switching to Georgia. Doug Nester, who was signed with Ohio State since August of 2017, flipped to Virginia Tech. LeDarrius Cox flipped from Tennessee to Ole Miss. Many more recruits have done this as well.

When you have 75% of your class signed, schools can double and triple resources towards prospects. Relationships can be established very quickly, and powerhouse programs can become players for kids they slow-played in the early recruiting cycle. All and all it’s the norm now-a-days and it definitely makes things more exciting.

Old School Shootout Between Texas Schools Was Hype 

Alabama and Georgia finished at the top of the leader board for recruiting. However, it was a very entertaining back-and-forth battle to see who would finish third in recruiting this year. This was a race between the two former rivals in the Longhorns and the Aggies. There’s no love lost among fans, players, and coaches even though the two don’t play anymore.

The Longhorns hold the edge right now with classes coming to a close as of late. Coach Tom Herman had to leave the famous Lone Star State to secure most of his 24 recruits. By Herman doing this, his class finished third thanks to former USC, 5-star prospect, Bru McCoy. Jimbo Fisher’s arrival in College Station brought with it a resurrected season in 2018. He followed that up with a pretty good looking class for 2019. Texas A&M may of finished just behind the Longhorns, but they killed Texas in convincing in-state recruits to come play in College Station.

Both classes are very deep and talented, and they both announced to the college football world that the Lone Star State is back as far as recruiting. It came down to Herman v. Fisher, mano-y-mano. This was a terrific battle in the rankings that was an actual battle in many kids living rooms. DON’T expect it to go away anytime soon!