Biggest losers from 2026 college football recruiting early signing day: Penn State's freefall continues

There used to be just one day on the college football calendar that recruits could officially sign with the program of their choice.

It was called National Signing Day, and it was just one day of pure recruiting nonsense. Recruits signed. Recruits flipped. The hat dance reigned supreme. Heck, Landon Collins' mom hated the fact that her son went with Alabama over LSU.

We don't get that kind of chaos anymore, thanks to the early signing period, but there were several huge developments on the recruiting trail today.

Several programs came away big winners. Others were the big losers. These three programs, in particular, had a rough start in the early period.

Penn State Nittany Lions have an awful signing day

Penn State has been in a freefall ever since firing James Franklin. Most seem to think the Nittany Lions made the right move, but have they had a plan since? 

Considering the fact that they just got turned down by Kalani Sitake and a box of Crumbl cookies, maybe the answer to that question is a resounding no.

To make matters worse, the Nittany Lions signed just two recruits on Wednesday. You read that right. Two. 

Adding insult to injury, multiple recruits followed Franklin over to Virginia Tech over the past few weeks. And by multiple, we're not talking about just a few. We're talking about 11 former Nittany Lions commits signing with Franklin at VT.

Lane Kiffin is already having problems as head coach of LSU Tigers

There may be more people in the world of college football rooting for Lane Kiffin to fail as head coach of the LSU Tigers than LSU has fans.

The Tigers are going to be an epic "hate watch" because of the way Kiffin left the Ole Miss Rebels high and dry, and his haters got some good ammo on signing day.

Lamar Brown is the No. 1-ranked athlete and No. 2 overall recruit in the 2026 class, and he has been committed to LSU since July.

Brown did not sign on Wednesday, though, and according to Eli Lederman of ESPN, he's not expected to sign during the early period. This is even though he met with LSU's new staff on Tuesday.

Also, the day before signing day, Ole Miss flipped a three-star wide receiver, Kervin Johnson Jr., away from LSU.

LSU is bringing in a top-15 class right now, but Kiffin has had nothing to do with it and thus deserves none of the credit.

Ohio State Buckeyes may be hurt by Brian Hartline going to USF

Offensive coordinator and wideouts coach Brian Hartline has long been known as Ohio State's best recruiter, and he's one of the top recruiters in the nation.

The issue for the Buckeyes is that USF is hiring Hartline to be its next head coach, and now five-star wide receiver Chris Henry Jr. is unsigned.

Henry is the top-ranked wideout in the 2026 class, and he was supposed to sign with OSU on Wednesday. 

The five-star backed off on that idea, though, specifically mentioning the coaching changes.