Rivals Rivalry Week: Biggest flips

It's Rivalry Week here at Rivals.com, and one way to kick it off is to take a look at 10 infamous rivalry recruiting flips from the mind of National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell.

Note: These are in order by what year they occurred and don’t encompass all the great rivalry flip flops in Rivals history, just the ones that stand out to me.

MORE RIVALRY WEEK: Michigan vs. Ohio State

Miller, out of Kileen, Texas, was being dubbed the next Tommie Harris by Sooner fans following his commitment in June of 2004, ironically right after receiving an offer from the Texas Longhorns. Rumors swirled into his senior season about a switch to Texas, but following an official visit in November he slammed the door on any flip. However, that was short lived as Texas kept pushing hard, and he eventually decommitted from the Sooners and committed to the Longhorns in January at the U.S. Army All American Bowl. There haven’t been a ton of major flips in this rivalry, especially with prospects ranked as high as Miller, so this is a big deal historically and was a crushing blow to the Sooner faithful.

The magic of Urban Meyer as a recruiter was evident in the recruitment of Matt Elam, a five-star safety in 2010. Elam, whose brother, Abram, had a relationship with Meyer from the days when he was committed to Notre Dame and Meyer in the 1990s, committed to Florida in October of 2008 during his junior year. However, when Meyer had his health scare and initially announced his resignation followed by a change of heart to a leave of absence in December of 2009, everything changed for Elam, who re-opened his commitment and then committed to Florida State on New Year’s Eve. A week later he de-committed from FSU and three days later announced his re-commitment to Meyer and the Gators at the US Army All American Bowl. Meyer talked to Elam about having faith and secured not only the five-star safety but also five-stars Ronald Powell, Sharrif Floyd and Dominique Easley after his leave of absence announcement in one of the greatest recruiting jobs in history.

In the class of 2011, Kouandjio was the top player at his position and a national top-five prospect. He was also an Alabama lock according to most, myself included, because his brother, Arie Kouandjio, signed with the Tide the year before and the two were obviously tight. So when he went on national television on Signing Day and picked Auburn in what looked like a very confusing moment for him, I was stunned. Rumors immediately began that he hadn’t signed his Letter of Intent and was unsure of his choice immediately after getting off the air; one source told me he got physically sick afterwards. Three days later, which seemed like 30 days following this drama, his brother Arie tweeted out that Cyrus would be joining him at Alabama. Cyrus received death threats on Facebook and numerous slurs on his Facebook page following his decision. It was very, very ugly for a kid and family I always liked.

There were some very big rivalry flips in the class of 2012, and Kalis’ decision to decommit from Ohio State to join bitter rival Michigan was big news. A national top-25 prospect and a five-star, Kalis committed to the Buckeyes in September of his junior season immediately after receiving his offer. As a standout at St. Edward’s in Ohio and growing up in a family of Buckeyes fan, this was not shocking. But his flip to Michigan, which occurred in July of 2011 following the resignation of Jim Tressel, was a stunner. I remember talking to him about the switch and hearing about the numerous threats he received from fans and how he had to go underground and avoid the public eye because of the switch. This one got ugly and is very memorable, as it’s rare for an Ohio kid to commit to the Buckeyes and then flip to the Wolverines.

While there wasn’t as much drama as the flip of Kouandjio, this was also a huge deal as Yeldon was a five-star prospect who was committed to Auburn since the summer before his senior year. He flipped to Alabama at the end of his senior season, citing concern over the Auburn offense after then-offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn left to take the Arkansas State head coaching job. As expected, Yeldon’s Twitter blew up after the flip with some fans hoping he blew out both ACLs, but he took it all in stride.

Fowler had an up-and-down experience in recruiting in many ways. A one-time five-star, he lost that fifth star after a down senior season only to earn it back after a dominating performance at the Under Armour All America Game. And when it came to schools, he was all over the map as well. Over a year after committing to Florida State and just a few days after re-affirming said commitment, Fowler flipped to rival Florida in a move that stunned many on Signing Day. After his commitment to FSU in December of 2010, Fowler became linked to a Gators flip after attending Florida’s Friday Night Lights Camp in the summer and things heated up further when he showed up at the Florida-Alabama game wearing Gators gear. In the end, the Gators won out in a recruitment loaded with speculation and rumor for months.

Where the heck do I start? Foster committed to Alabama in July of 2011 out of the state of Georgia where he lived and played, but then things got crazy. He moved to Auburn, Ala. and played his senior season at Auburn High School and became very close with Auburn assistant coach Trooper Taylor. So in July of 2012, following the move, he flipped from Alabama to Auburn and celebrated by getting a massive Auburn tattoo on his right arm. The hatred ensued from the Alabama faithful with every imaginable slur, but everyone thought the process was over. After all, there was no way he could flip back to ‘Bama with that permanent and massive Auburn tattoo on his arm, right? Wrong. On the Monday before Signing Day, Foster once again committed to Alabama to play football after a disastrous season at Auburn in Gene Chizik’s final year. The tattoo? In May of 2013 Foster turned it into a tribute to former Auburn player Ladarious Phillips, also his cousin, who was shot and killed a year before. This was one of the more dramatic recruitments I’ve followed in my career.

Flips from USC to Notre Dame aren’t that common and Redfield, as a five-star prospect, was a big one in the 2013 class. Originally committed to the Trojans in July of 2012 before his senior year, everything changed when he took an official visit to Notre Dame in October of his senior season. Redfield waited until the Under Armour All America Game to announce his official commitment to Notre Dame after decommitting from USC in November after that great visit to South Bend. This one doesn’t have the drama of some of the others, but it’s a big-time flip by a five-star prospect in one of the most storied rivalries in college football history.

Cook originally committed to Clemson after his sophomore season, but he backed off that pledge in April of 2013 as a junior when he committed to Florida. His commitment to the Gators lasted until late December, when he announced on national television that he was flipping to Florida State in one of the worst kept secrets around. He cancelled his official visit to Gainesville and hadn’t seen the campus since the summer before his senior year while taking an official visit to FSU in October. I remember an awkward interview with Cook and friend and fellow five-star Ermon Lane at Under Armour All America Game registration where both ducked questions about the obvious flip ahead to FSU. (Lane was also a Gators commitment). This one wasn’t overly dramatic, but based on Cook’s career and the fact that his little brother, class of 2018 five-star running back James Cook, is committed to FSU as well, this was clearly a biggie.

This was another amazing story. Weber, a Michigan prospect who played at Wolverines' feeder school Cass Tech, committed to Michigan in August prior to his senior year but decommitted from the Wolverines in November as it was clear head coach Brady Hoke was going to be fired. Weber considered a few other schools but committed to Ohio State and Urban Meyer in December. But the drama didn’t end there. Michigan hired head coach Jim Harbaugh and Harbaugh went hard after Weber, leading to a somewhat dramatic Signing Day decision for the running back. In the end Weber stuck with the Buckeyes, but after signing it was announced that Ohio State running backs coach Stan Drayton announced he was leaving for the NFL. Weber took to Twitter expressing his hurt while his head coach, Thomas Wilcher, said the Buckeyes received Weber’s signature under “false pretenses." Since that time everything has apparently been sorted out between Meyer and Cass Tech, but this flip had its own version of drama regardless.