Ohio State gets first big win for new coach on signing day

Zach Harrison is one of the most highly touted recruits in the country and he goes to high school 15 miles from Ohio State.

Yet not until Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period, did the 6-foot-6, 245-pound defensive end commit to become a Buckeye, giving incoming head coach Ryan Day his first victory as Urban Meyer’s replacement.

“Huge,” Day said. “This was one of those ones we had to win.”

Harrison’s choice, streamed out over Olentangy Orange High School’s website, was maybe the most intriguing development of what can now be considered the new signing day. This is year two of the early signing period in college football and just like last year, most of the scholarships have been scooped up. The traditional signing period in early February will mostly be for finishing touches

Alabama has already signed most of a class that was already considered the best in the country and added a couple of more five-stars on top of that. Ahead of the Crimson Tide’s latest College Football Playoff appearance and national championship pursuit, coach Nick Saban has already locked up another recruiting title.

The Southeastern Conference is primed to have the four highest-rated recruiting classes after the early period ends Friday.

According to 247 Sports’ composite rankings of major recruiting websites, Alabama is No. 1, followed in order by Georgia, Texas A&M and LSU. Oregon rounded out the top five, the one interloper amid the usual suspects in a top 10 that included Clemson, Oklahoma and Michigan.

Cali-Ducks?

Even during the halcyon days of Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota at Oregon, the Ducks never had a top-10 recruiting class.

Second-year coach Mario Cristobal, a former Alabama assistant and Miami player, is changing that by cleaning up in California. Oregon’s class is the best in the Pac-12 and half of the 22 players they signed are from California. More important than the quantity was the quality.