By Corey Long – @CoreyLong
Updated Dec. 16, 2019.
Follow @walterfootball for updates.
It’s Break-up Season
The Christmas holidays bring together families and friends to celebrate each other. And in the recruiting world, it often brings the end of long-standing relationships and commitments. With early singing day less than a week away, there have been some very notable de-commitments in the past week.
S Avantae Williams from Oregon: Williams, arguably the top safety prospect in the nation, was committed to Oregon for much of the year. The 6-foot. 170-pound prospect from Deland, Florida is likely to stay closer to home. Miami and Florida are the in-state programs Williams is looking at, but Ole Miss and Georgia are also heavily in the mix.
OT Joshua Braun from Georgia: It is not a big surprise that Georgia would lose a couple of offensive line commitments after Sam Pittman left the program to take the job at Arkansas. With Braun (6-6, 330) expected to sign next week, I would think Florida has a good shot at him unless he decides to follow Pittman to Arkansas.
S Major Burns from LSU: It’s a pretty big surprise to see a prospect from Baton Rouge decide to leave the Tigers this late in the process. Burns was committed to Texas A&M for a while until he flipped to LSU in early June. Maybe he’ll circle back around to the Aggies? Or perhaps he will go a completely different direction.
LB Keyshawn Greene from Florida State: The Seminoles held on to their once-top-10 class pretty well for a few weeks after Willie Taggart was fired, but the de-commitment flood gates have opened in the past week and a half. Running back Jaylan Knighton left the class and committed to Miami. Greene, who’s from Crawfordville, Florida, about 15 minutes outside of Tallahassee, appears headed to Miami too. He’s also looking at Nebraska.
JUCO DB Art Green from Tennessee: This is less about Green backing away and more about Tennessee’s hot finish to the season paying off dividends in the recruiting market. The Volunteers dropped Green after some unexpected good luck came their way with other targets. Illinois, Kansas State, Colorado and Louisville have all reached out to Green recently, and the prospect will likely push his signing back to February.
QB Jeff Sims from Florida State: Remember when I said the Seminoles’ class fell apart in the past week and a half? Well, Sims was the bellcow of the class and a top-10 ranked quarterback. He had been solid through the coaching change, but de-committed after an in-home visit from new head coach Mike Norvell. Georgia Tech and Maryland appear to be the new finalists for Sims.
QB Robby Ashford from Ole Miss: It’s rare that a quarterback with Ashford’s skill set wouldn’t want to play for new Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin, but this appears to be more of a numbers things with the Rebels having two freshman quarterbacks, Matt Corral and John Rhys Plumlee, looking to hold down the position for at least the next two years. Ashford’s plans for early signing day are uncertain, but if he waits until February, he’ll likely be the top quarterback on the market.
DE Jimari Butler from Tennessee: Butler appeared to be having second thoughts with the early signing period scheduled to start in a week. He took an official visit to Nebraska last weekend and now appears to be leaning heavily toward the Huskers.
EDGE/LB Morven Joseph from Florida State: The Seminoles are in need are pass-rushers and were expecting early contributions from Joseph. But Joseph backed away from his commitment on Dec. 6 and is now likely to choose between Tennessee and Florida next week.
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