Then it got crazy.

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At one point in this novelty show that National Signing Day has become, the nation’s No.1 recruit, defensive end Byron Cowart of Seffner, Fla., was texting recruiting analysts and explaining why — after choosing Auburn over Florida on national television — he hadn’t signed the official national letter of intent.

He told one analyst on ESPN that he was waiting to see what his friend CeCe Jefferson, the nation’s No. 2 defensive end recruit, was going to do. Not long after that, Jefferson chose Florida over Auburn on the same national television show — then told reporters afterward that, “I do think I’m the best pass rusher in the (2015) class. We’ll see the first game. I’ll put on a show for you.”

The show, everyone, started the day Florida fired Will Muschamp.

Then again, what did we expect? Here we have one of the nation’s best recruiters getting fired from one of the top three jobs in the country — and less than two weeks later showing up at an SEC rival as defensive coordinator.

This, of course, led to the uncomfortable reality of Florida paying Muschamp a $6 million buyout to recruit against them. And you thought fall Saturdays in the SEC were brutal.

Is it really that much of a surprise that after Auburn (and Muschamp) threw body blows to the Gators in the early morning hours by landing Cowart (he eventually signed and faxed the letter of intent to Auburn), offensive tackle Michael Horton (over Florida), wideout Ryan Davis (over Florida) and linebacker Jeffrey Holland (over Florida), Jefferson chose the Gators and taunted both Auburn and Cowart by proclaiming his superiority?

Two hours earlier, Martez Ivey, the No. 1 offensive tackle in the nation, chose Florida over Auburn. Later in the afternoon, D’Anfernee McGriff, a 4-star athlete from Tallahassee, Fla., signed with the Gators after decommitting from Auburn two days earlier.

So if you’re sitting in the stands and scoring, that’s one 5-star and three 4-star players for Auburn, and two 5-star and one 4-star player for Florida.

And one big, confusing headache.

“Our guys worked overtime in as many places as we could,” said new Florida coach Jim McElwain.

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This is the way it works in the SEC, where a majority of high school players have deep-rooted loyalties to teams in their surroundings. When one of those teams loses its head coach, uncertainty and emotion enters the process and overtakes what’s important.

That means the recruiting process doesn’t end when a player verbally commits. It ends only when a signed letter of intent is faxed to the school a player chooses — and no sooner.

Maybe that’s why Jefferson’s mother was weeping on national television after her son — who was rumored to be headed to Auburn or even Ole Miss — chose Florida, a campus less than an hour from her home in Glen St. Mary, Fla.

Maybe that’s why it took seven hours — and apparently some significant parental negotiating — for Cowart to sign his letter of intent to play for Auburn.

Maybe that’s why Muschamp, when Cowart initially committed to Auburn, sat still in his chair while Auburn coaches jumped and celebrated. Cowart was the first of seven players that would choose between Auburn and Florida on Wednesday — seven players Muschamp recruited to both schools.

When asked about recruiting against Muschamp, McElwain talked about how his staff would meet together later Wednesday night, have a nice meal and talk about spring practice.

“It’s never about anybody else,” McElwain said. “It’s about what we have.”

No matter how ugly and disruptive it gets.