National Signing Day on Wednesday essentially marked the end of the 2023 college football recruiting cycle. The recruiting cycle had been going on long before the season started, but National Signing Day allowed teams to put that last cherry on top of the sundae. Now that we're almost a week out from the big event, it's time to decide the winners and losers. Some teams, like Alabama and Colorado, made big splashes on National Signing Day, landing big recruits that could be difference-makers for years to come, while others, like the Florida Gators, failed to make an impact.

That's what we'll focus on here. today. We're taking a look at the teams on the other end, the ones that missed out on the big recruits.

With that said, here are the three biggest losers from National Signing Day.

3. Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue made a surprising run to the Big Ten Championship in 2022 before falling to Michigan. Since then, though, the Boilermakers have had a rough couple of months.

They lost big to LSU in the Citrus Bowl, head coach Jeff Brohm left for Louisville and quarterback Aidan O'Connell declared for the NFL Draft. Unfortunately for Purdue, National Signing Day continued the bad trend.

The reason why Purdue lands on this list is because it lost four-star defensive lineman Kendrick Gilbert. The Indianapolis native committed to Purdue back in August but flipped to Kentucky on National Signing Day.

With Gilbert leaving, Purdue now has no four-stars in the entire class, being one of only three teams in the Big Ten with that distinction. The Boilermakers also have the second-worst class in the conference, only ahead of in-state rival Indiana.

Signing Gilbert would have given Purdue a much-needed win in this rough patch, but instead, it only continued as he flipped, sealing their fate as a National Signing Day loser.

2. Maryland Terrapins

Maryland has been stuck in the middle of the Big Ten for a while, and this recruiting cycle epitomizes it. On one hand, the Terrapins signed a class that ranks No. 37 nationally and sixth in the Big Ten. On the other hand, it could have been so much better if they managed to snag a few more targets.

One key loss for Maryland was Andrew Harris, a four-star linebacker from Florida who instead picked UCF. While the Terrapins nabbed his twin brother Michael Harris, another linebacker, many saw the two as a package deal and not getting both of them hurts.

The other big loss was five-star athlete Nyckoles Harbor, who instead chose South Carolina. The Washington D.C. native visited Maryland back in December, but South Carolina won out in the end.

Getting these two recruits would have been huge for the Terrapins as they try to keep up with the titans in their division. Now that they have lost them, competing in the Big Ten just got even harder.

1. National Signing Day Loser: Florida Football

Florida football has been on a ride throughout the 2023 recruiting cycle. At first glance, the Gators signed the 14th-ranked class in the entire country, featuring 18 four-star recruits. Look a little deeper, though, and the cracks begin to show.

The biggest story of Florida's offseason was the saga surrounding star quarterback Jaden Rashada. The California recruit flipped to Florida from Miami after reportedly receiving a massive NIL offer from the former.

Once the deal fell through, though, Rashada asked for his release, which the Gators granted him, and he then signed with Arizona State.

There were a couple of other noteworthy losses for the Gators on National Signing Day. They lost out on Ju'Juan Johnson, a 2024 four-star recruit from Louisiana, to Deion Sanders and Colorado.

Add in the fact that Georgia is on the verge of a dynasty, Tennessee is on the rise and both signed better classes than Florida, and it's not a great time in Gainesville.

The Gators have had back-to-back losing seasons, while all their rivals seem to be improving. They needed a big National Signing Day to get back on track, and while they signed a strong class, the tumultuous offseason outweighs the good signings.