Five Who Could Flip: Committed Florida prospects to track
Football recruiting is chaos.
Commitments sometimes aren’t actually commitments and scholarship offers have a tendency to mean roughly nothing, but the twists and turns the situation creates are what draws fans into the realm.
Commitment flips are prevalent and there are plenty more of those in store in the year ahead. It’s why today, Rivals.com takes a look at five committed Florida-based prospects that could experience a change of heart before its time to sign on the dotted line.
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Committed to: Florida State
The situation: Lucas enjoys the recruiting process and has shown no signs of shutting it down since committing to Florida State in April. There are likely official visits in store here, and what happens after those is anyone’s guess. It also seems as though FSU’s first season under its new staff could go a long way in locking down Lucas or giving him reason to take a more serious look around.
Where he could go: Miami seems like FSU’s top adversary here, but Lucas continues to visit and talk to Florida as well. The four-star lineman is unlikely to leave the Sunshine State, so while he holds a long list of offers, most of those programs are window dressing to his offer list at this juncture. This will remain an in-state battle until the end.
Committed to: Penn State
The situation: Dunmore is one of the most coveted wide receivers in Florida, so his recent commitment to Penn State is unlikely to put an end to his recruitment. Florida State, Florida and Miami will likely peruse Dunmore to some extent until he signs a letter of intent, so the next few months could include some tense moments for Nittany Lions fans.
The four-star prospect has given no indication that he plans to take additional official visits this fall, but it seems unlikely that he’ll pass on such an opportunity. Dunmore was seen as a Florida State lean for some time, so the Seminoles need to be viewed as the most serious threat to change his mind. That said, a host of other schools could get involved as crunch time approaches.
Where he could go: As mentioned above, Florida State is the obvious threat, but Miami will likely pursue Dunmore as well. He also took hard looks at both Ohio State, Michigan and Auburn while uncommitted, so it’s not beyond the scope of possibility that one of those programs could find their way back into the mix.
Committed to: Missouri
The situation: Cook recently committed to Missour,i but pulled the ol’ committed-but-keeping-my-options-open thing, a Florida prospect trademark, in the hours following his pledge to the Tigers. “"I'm not done with the recruiting process,” Cook said on the day of his commitment, and it would be wise to take him at his word.
Where he could go: Cook is planning to take official visits to Arkansas and Oregon and will likely add a few other programs to that list in before all is said and done. He’s also the sort of prospect that could see a late offer or two this season, which could add chaos to a commitment that already seems a bit unstable.
Committed to: Florida State
The situation: Will Hunter be a take for FSU come Signing Day? Why did he delete his commitment tweet hours after putting it out? Which other schools are involved? Nobody seems to have a good answer to any of those questions, and that’s what makes this situation as interesting as it is volatile.
The shock level will be low if Hunter’s recruitment takes two or three more twists before things are said and done, as it’s gotten off to an interesting start to say the least.
Where he could go: Who knows? The whole situation just feels, in a word, strange. And when that happens in recruiting, there’s usually a shenanigan or two in store down the road. It’s hard to guess when it comes to possible threats to flip Hunter, but that’s not to say there aren’t any. Penn State seems to be involved, as Hunter visited recently State College, but forecasting Hunter’s path from here is impossible. The four-star defensive continues to tweet about an “impending decision” despite his commitment status.
Committed to: Miami
The situation: Gray is a class-of- 2020 prospect, and including a Florida-based prospect that makes such an early commitment feels a bit like stretching the rules, as players from the Sunshine State tend to have a change of heart or two before finding their landing place. Still, Ohio State’s involvement makes Gray’s commitment to Miami seem particularly uncertain at this juncture.
Where he could go: Gray called a recent offer from Ohio State a “dream” and seems to be more than open to checking out Columbus. There’s no telling if Gray will land with the Buckeyes or even back off his pledge to Miami, but it’s not hard to imagine a situation where he takes a step back and re-opens his recruitment while he has another look around this fall or next.