Congratulations to all the kids who signed letters Wednesday, the culmination of years of hard work, and not just fending off recruiters, either. The big winner locally appears to be Texas, with a class ranked fifth nationally by 247 Composite, though Joey McGuire gets a lot of love for signing Micah Hudson of Lake Belton, the highest-ranked recruit in Texas Tech history.

Everyone’s a winner on signing day, when, as Garrison Keillor might put it, all the linemen are strong, all the skill positions good-looking and all the recruiting classes are above average.

The trick now is holding onto them, as Jimbo Fisher would tell you, assuming you could find him.

Remember when the iridescent quality of Jimbo’s No. 1 class in ’22 got Nick Saban so riled up he practically accused Texas A&M of grand larceny? Talk about overkill. I mean, how good could those recruits have been? It’s not like they kept Jimbo from getting a nice consolation prize.

Heck, they barely hung around long enough for his farewell party.

Evan Stewart, one of the prizes of that ’22 class, became the seventh member to enter the portal, joining the blue-chip talent of defensive tackle Walter Nolen, formerly the nation’s No. 1 recruit, now reportedly bound for Ole Miss; LT Overton, a defensive lineman committed to Alabama; defensive back Deuce Harmon; and tight end Jake Johnson, who teamed up with brother Max for the family plan at North Carolina.

Overall, 14 players have signed up for the portal since the Aggies cashiered Jimbo in November, a number no doubt growing since I typed this. How you take that depends on your perspective: Jimbo will probably consider it a sign of support; Mike Elko, his successor, won’t take it personally; and A&M boosters should stop payment on their NIL checks.

Speaking of which, all of you purists worried about the crass corruption of college football should take heart. Money isn’t everything after all. Won’t make players stay, anyway.

Before scholarship limits, when the schools that could pull it off would sign a huge class just to keep talent out of the hands of the enemy, players were practically pushed out the door. Ralph Blount, cousin of Sherwood and son of Peppy, one of Bobby Layne’s targets at Texas, once told me that his freshman class at SMU numbered a hundred or more.

His senior year, a meager half dozen remained.

Moral: Don’t get too worked up about your school’s signing class one way or another, because chances are it’s not for keeps.

Besides ranking high school recruits, 247Sports also quantifies the winners in the transfer portal. For the second year in a row, Colorado is No. 1. Deion Sanders made headlines last year with 51 transfers in a dramatic overhaul of the Buffs’ roster. For some perspective on the scope, Arizona State was second in transfers with 31. No one else came close to the Sun Devils. Coach Prime has just 16 transfers on tap so far this year, though six are four-star recruits.

No local coach has taken advantage of the portal more liberally than Sonny Dykes, who built his success on it at SMU and has continued the practice at TCU. The folks at 247 rank his transfers fourth, Tech’s sixth and SMU, under Rhett Lashlee, 14th.

Maybe you noticed the schools above weren’t similarly ranked in the high school standings. There’s a reason for that.

The recruiting process in general isn’t as over-the-top as a coronation, but it’s in the neighborhood. Never again will a recruit be fawned over as much, let alone made the object of so many promises. Big schools have a leg up in this area of talent acquisition. They practically blind kids with their weight rooms, locker rooms, practice facilities, etc. Hard for the have-nots to compete with that kind of flash.

But, once your signature is on paper, you soon find out it’s not all that it seemed when you first stepped foot on campus. Coach isn’t as friendly. The opportunity isn’t what was promised.

Those wised up by the process aren’t as susceptible to the hype and hoopla the second time around.

Frankly, any coach wishing to remain employed is probably better off shopping in the portal. Coming out of high school, some kids don’t know how to handle life away from home. Jimbo learned the hard way with a couple members of his ’22 class, even though he’d allegedly been warned.

With transfers, you’ve probably got a better idea of what you’re getting. They’ve got a track record, good and bad.

And if you only get a transfer for a year or two, so what? Chances are you didn’t have to work as hard to groom him for the job. Besides, how many good players stay at the same place four years? Not every family of a big-time recruit is as patient as the Mannings.

For that matter, how many coaches last long these days? The standard used to be five years. Tom Herman got four years at Texas. Charlie Strong got three.

Steve Sarkisian’s tenure skyrocketed in his third year at Texas, no doubt playing a part in Jimbo’s demise at A&M. Sark built on his College Football Playoff appearance with a big-time class that included six Dallas Morning News Top 100 Dallas-area recruits. Oklahoma got five; Tech, three. The Aggies? Whiffed. No coach will accuse them of buying a class this year. These days, you’re only renting.