National Signing Day was on Wednesday and college football teams from around the country made a big splash. There were the usual big dogs near the top of the recruiting rankings, like Ohio State football, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, etc. However, there were also teams that didn't do as well as they were hoping. For example, Michigan football and Washington football just competed in the national title game, yet neither of them finished inside the top 15 of the 2024 recruiting rankings. The offseason has been rough for both the Wolverines and the Huskies. After being in the national title game just a month ago, they both have lost their head coaches. Those are two teams that will be discussed here as they didn't recruit as well as they should have for the 2024 class.

The college football season just ended one month ago when Michigan football won the national championship against Washington. A lot has changed since then. Neither of those teams that played in the national title game have their head coaches anymore, and neither of them made a huge splash in the 2024 recruiting class. Kalen DeBoer ended up with a very solid class, but he didn't have to do a lot of work on it as he is the new head coach for Alabama. Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines have a class that a lot of teams would be very happy with, but after winning a national title, it could certainly be better.

This offseason has already been a wild old, and it's been specifically busy for Michigan. Shortly after the Wolverines won the national title game, Jim Harbaugh left the program to be the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. It didn't stop there, though, as Harbaugh has brought a good amount of the coaching staff with him. Not only did Michigan lose all of those coaches, but most of their production from the national title team also is leaving for the NFL. These kind of things happen after a national title. People achieved their goal, and now they are moving on. All of this affects recruiting.

We will discuss Michigan football, Washington and other school in terms of the not-so-fortunate teams on National Signing Day, but before we get into to that, let's take a look at the NSD winners quickly as well.

“Ohio State finished with the #5 overall 2024 recruiting class, according to 247 Sports. The Buckeyes landed the top overall recruit, wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, and they finished with four five-stars in total. Their breakdown is four five-stars, 14 four-stars and three three-stars. Ryan Day has done a great job with recruiting ever since he joined the Ohio State staff, and he has another extremely impressive class coming in. The Buckeyes also have one of the top transfer classes in the country, and they are returning a lot of talent from last season that could've left for the NFL. They are loaded, and if they don't beat Michigan at home with this team, Ryan Day will be in trouble.”

“Welcome to the Big Ten, Oregon. Dan Lanning could've left the Ducks to go coach at Alabama, but he decided to stay, and he should have a very good team next year. Oregon finished with the #3 overall recruiting class in the country, and it is loaded with four-stars. Their break down is zero five-stars, 22 four-stars and five three-stars, but their top two players, Elijah Rushing and Gatlin Bair are both five-stars according to 247's composite rankings. Oregon is going to be scary good next year, and they should contend for a Big Ten title in their first season.”

“Georgia didn't win their third straight national title this past season, but they'll be back. The Bulldogs finished with the top recruiting class in the country for the 2024 cycle. They brought in five five-stars, 19 four-stars and three four-stars. All of this AFTER the top quarterback recruit in the country flipped from Georgia to Nebraska. It didn't matter, the Bulldogs are still loaded and have the top class in the country. Their top commit is CB Ellis Robinson IV, who is the #2 player in the entire class. Great work by the Dawgs.”

Now, let's dive into the teams that didn't have things so good for their 2024 recruiting class. First up, let's take a look at the defending national champs.

Michigan

The Michigan football 2024 recruiting class was an interesting one. At first, the Wolverines were landing all of their targets and the class was ranked #1 in the country at one point. Then it slowed down, and it fell down the rankings and it just continued to fall. It is important to note that this is still a good class, but Michigan is on this list because of how well they have done in the past three years. They just won the national title, but their class is still behind Georgia, Oregon, Ohio State and many other schools. Michigan has obviously won with classes like this before, but it was still a little surprising to not see a better class. It finished ranked #16 in the country, according to 247 Sports, and it has zero five-stars, 18 four-stars and nine three-stars. Their best recruit is OT Andrew Sprague.

Washington

Washington had a much more disappointing class than Michigan. The Huskies also made it to the national title game, yet their recruiting wouldn't show that. The Huskies finished with the #38 class in the country. They are about to be in the Big Ten, and if they continue to recruit at a level like this, they could be left in the dust. The class breakdown is zero five-stars, five four-stars and 12 three-stars. Their top recruit is QB Dermaricus Davis.

UCLA

The last team to discuss is UCLA. There are a lot of grey areas around this program, like their head coaching situation, that has to be negatively impacting recruiting. The Bruins did not do well with the 2024 class. UCLA finished with the #87 recruiting class in the country. That is simply not going to cut it in the Big Ten, and the Bruins might be in for a rude awakening in their first season in the new conference. Their class breakdown is zero five-stars, two four-stars and eight three-stars.