It’s a coincidence, nothing more. Michigan State loses for the first time and four recruits decommit the following week.
The latest to change his mind is Ann Arbor (Mich.) Skyline receiver Hunter Rison, son of former MSU great, Andre Rison. The young Rison tweeted this past Thursday that he was re-opening his recruiting.
Rison, who will be a senior next fall, committed to the Spartans last summer, or two full seasons before he would arrive in East Lansing, which means he had a long time to reconsider.
Too long, if you ask me.
But this is where we are with college football at the moment. Kids get recruited. And recruited. And then recruited some more, long after they give a verbal commitment.
It happened to Rison, who was recently offered a scholarship by UCLA, and who had a standing offer from Alabama, a school that certainly wasn’t going to stop pursuing Rison just because of a verbal commitment.
Hey, Mark Dantonio is chasing Ohio State commit George Hill, a running back that went to high school with current MSU running back LJ Scott, who could fill the spot just vacated by Abdul Adams, a running back from North Carolina who also decommitted last week.
Dantonio may get Hill. He may not.
Until signing day next February, however, we won’t know. And the coaches won’t know. Because kids change their minds. Because kids fall behind with their grades. Because parents pull rank. Because other coaches keep coming.
And coming.
Rison admitted he made up his mind too early. Good for him. He was 16.
As for the other two decommits this past week – Naquan Jones and Jonah Morris – we don’t fully know why they decided to take other visits.
Jones, a four-star defensive tackle, is scheduled to visit Ole Miss and Florida. Morris, a defensive back and receiver from Akron, Ohio, is getting interest from Notre Dame and Ohio State.
Maybe he wants to play closer to his home. Maybe he really just wanted to play for Ohio State all along.
What we can say is that he didn’t decommit because Nebraska stunned MSU last Saturday, or because Dantonio got conservative at the end of the game, or because the Spartans’ special teams struggled.
Again.
Kids this highly regarded can mean a lot to a program, to a coach, to a family. The more MSU competes to sign them, the more decommits they will face, just like other schools that operated in this high-stakes strata.
Before the three decommits this past week, MSU had a Top 10 class according to Rivals.com, the highest ranked class under Dantonio. As it stands now, the Spartans still rank No. 12, but could move up again.
On Saturday, one of the best high school linebackers in the country was scheduled to be on MSU’s sideline, along with a promising left tackle.
You can be sure they weren’t thinking about Nebraska.
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