College football will be changed Wednesday.
While it projects, technically, as the first day of the early signing period window for recruits to make their college decisions official — it has largely become the defacto National Signing Day. Some 80% of all available prospects should come off the board by day’s end.
Within that group will be the best of the bunch, the SI99, for the most part, with 90-plus members in the preseason ranking likely making their college intention official in the coming hours. Each could impact the final call in the race for the nation’s top class, as the rest of the country appears to again be looking up at Nick Saban and Alabama.
Sports Illustrated will track every layer of the festivities, chatter, analysis and more all right here in one spot.
(The most recent updates will appear atop the live blog. All times eastern.)
7:45 a.m. – The first flip of signing day has been recorded.
7:39 a.m. – Brandon Inniss, one of the top wide receivers in the class, made things official with Ohio State. Miami and others tried to take a late swing with the high-floor prospect.
7:05 a.m. – One of Auburn’s biggest needs on the current roster is on the edge, and one of the best in the South resides just up the road in Highland Home High School’s Keldric Faulk. AU got a Sunday visit from Faulk on his way home from Tallahassee, where he was taking an official visit to Florida State—the program he has been committed to since July. The more we dig on this one, the more confidence we run into coming from Auburn’s side of the coin. Faulk is expected to ink around noon.
6:45 a.m. – Quarterbacks have taken plenty of the spotlight in the 2023 cycle, led by Arch Manning and Dante Moore, but there are still intriguing decisions to be made at the sport’s most important position leading into Wednesday. Moore defected from Oregon in favor of UCLA on Monday, opening a new need for Dan Lanning’s program, which has since targeted current Baylor commitment Austin Novosad. The Texas native has a longstanding relationship with new Duck offensive coordinator Will Stein and there is a lot of momentum leaning toward the Pac-12’s green and gold program. Baylor held off Ohio State, Notre Dame and Texas A&M’s flip attempts over the summer months.
On the east coast, Syracuse is trying to hold onto its own late-rising quarterback recruit in LaNorris Sellers, fresh off of a state championship and Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas MVP award. The Palmetto State native has been heavily pursued by Shane Beamer and South Carolina since the middle of the season, and there are plenty of indicators that the flip chance is growing by the hour. Sellers is being sold on playing in his home state to help USC continue the offensive momentum it showed on the field at the end of the 2022 season.
6:00 a.m. – Auburn, among the new coaching staffs navigating more decisions than most programs, has been able to flip six recruits toward its favor under Hugh Freeze. More defections towards AU are likely Wednesday, particularly on the defensive side of the ball as the Tigers gun for Alabama DB commitment Tony Mitchell, Florida State pass rusher pledge Keldric Faulk and UCF secondary commit Braeden Marshall, among others. New Auburn defensive coordinator Ron Roberts is hinting at upcoming success early this morning, too.
5:50 am – The first NLI’s are already in at select programs having found success internationally. Alabama announced offensive tackle Olaus Alinen, who sent in his letter from his native Finland, during the midnight hour.
* National Letter of Intent signatures can be announced by college programs beginning at 7:00 a.m. ET.
