Seven notable prospects that flipped on Day 1 of the Early Signing Period

MORE: Winners and losers from Day 1 of the Early Signing Period

The first day of the early signing period in the books and while it didn’t bring quite as many surprises as expected, there were still some committed players who changed their minds and ultimately signed elsewhere on Wednesday. Today we look at seven players who flipped their commitments and made it official with signed paperwork as well.

The biggest surprise flip of the day was saved for last when four-star defensive back Nadab Joseph flipped to Georgia from Alabama. The move capped off a historic day for the Bulldogs, who now sit in the No. 1 spot in the Rivals.com team rankings. Joseph, a one-time LSU commit, had been pledged to Alabama going into the day but planned on delaying signing his NLI. That changed early in the evening when Joseph decided to sign his letter and send it in to Georgia, not Alabama. A late official visit to Athens was clearly enough to sell Joseph on a future with the Dawgs and his flip was one of the biggest steals of the day across the nation.

In a move that harkened memories of De'Anthony Thomas' late commitment to Oregon, Woodbey kept recruiting fans in suspense while drawing out his announcement on Wednesday night. He came into the day as an Ohio State commit and most thought that if he was going to flip from the Buckeyes it would be to stay close to home at USC. Instead, Willie Taggart pulled off his first major recruiting victory and capped off the day by landing Woodbey.

The longtime Ohio State commitment did what everyone had been anticipating for quite some time, flipped away from Buckeyes in favor of an SEC school. Jones is now the centerpiece of new Gators head coach Dan Mullen’s class and the Rivals100 prospect has a chance to be a star in Gainesville. Ohio State already took another quarterback in anticipation of losing Jones, but make no mistake, it’s still a major blow to the Buckeyes' class. Mullen and the Gators can celebrate not only stealing Jones away from Ohio State, but also beating out Alabama and Florida State to land his signature.

A talented wide receiver with elite speed, Dotson seemed like the ideal fit for new Bruins head coach Chip Kelly. But faced with going to school across the country, the Pennsylvania native elected to stay close to home and sign with Penn State. The addition of Dotson completes a trio of elite pass catchers in the Nittany Lions class as Dotson joins four-stars Justin Shorter and Daniel George in the program's class. Finding a spot for Dotson and landing his signature will curry a lot of favor for the Penn State coaches with Nittany Lions fans.

The speedy wide receiver made one of the first major headlines on Wednesday morning when he flipped from Georgia to Ole Miss. The consensus among recruiting reporters (and vocal UGA fans on Twitter) was that Moore and the Bulldogs “parted ways” as Georgia looks to open some spots for more highly-coveted prospects. If that’s the case it shouldn’t matter to Ole Miss, since Moore has a high ceiling and could be electric as a slot receiver playing in the spread offense. The Rebels are going to take some chances on some boom-or-bust talent and while Moore’s on-field production hasn’t really matched his ranking, he still has the potential to be a major contributor in Oxford.

If it weren’t such a busy news day, Louis’ decision to show up in a Florida State t-shirt and then announce for and sign with South Carolina would have made national headlines. The three-star linebacker appeared to be locked in with the ‘Noles and most expected his announcement to be mostly a formality. But that was anything but the case and now the Gamecocks have a nice addition to their defensive class and yet another player from the Sunshine State on the roster. Louis is a hard-hitting middle linebacker who should fit perfectly in the center of the Gamecocks' defense.

Mafi’s decision to flip wasn’t a total surprise, especially considering his would-be position coach with the Bears, Jerry Azzinaro, recently took the defensive coordinator job at UCLA. But nevertheless the big-bodied defensive tackle went into Wednesday still pledged to the Bears and he didn’t make his decision to flip known until the afternoon. UCLA’s commitment list has undergone quite a transformation since Kelly was hired and stealing Mafi away from another Pac-12 school should be seen as a big win for the Bruins.