Sting Factor: Antione Jackson's flip from Georgia to Miami
When a major program loses a key recruit, Rivals.com takes a look at how big of a blow it is to the respective school, analyzing it from a local and national level. To quantify the “sting” of each decommitment, we assign a score from one to 10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
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THE STORYLINE
When Antione Jackson committed to Georgia in March, his relationship with position coach Fran Brown was a big selling point.
Jackson knew Brown from his days coaching at Rutgers and once Brown took the assistant coaching job at Georgia, the 2024 four-star cornerback from Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Dillard believed it was the right situation and so he committed.
But Jackson is from South Florida, he’s a massive Duke Johnson fan, he grew up knowing one program and one program only and that’s Miami.
So after attending Legends Camp there recently, the 2024 standout decided it was time to flip his commitment from the Bulldogs to the Hurricanes.
As Jackson told CanesCounty.com: "It's a dream come true. I grew up only knowing Miami. That was the only college football I knew. It's like time flies. I'm really living my dream. I'm not there yet, but putting on for my city is the first step toward living my dream."
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LOCAL REACTION
Jackson’s commitment is far enough out that it doesn’t sting the Bulldogs too much. There’s still a ton of time left to go for the 2024 class. Georgia is heavily involved with top DB prospects such as Ellis Robinson, Omillio Agard, Tavoy Feagin and others. Losing a commit is never ideal, but this one doesn’t hurt Georgia too bad at this point. - Jed May, UGASports.com
Sting factor: 3
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NATIONAL REACTION
Georgia will survive and there is so much time before the 2024 recruiting class wraps up that the Bulldogs will not only target some of the best cornerbacks in the country but should be able to land a decent amount of them. In the 2023 class, AJ Harris, Justyn Rhett and Daniel Harris are all high-profile and very-skilled players who should lead the way in Athens for years to come.
A larger problem exists, though, if the South Florida spigot dries up for Georgia and Alabama and other programs who recruit the area so heavily. If new Miami coach Mario Cristobal can keep more top players home, guys like Jackson and others, then it becomes tougher for the Bulldogs to win recruiting battles down there. There are enough elite players in South Florida for many schools to get their fill but if Miami makes it harder to land the best of the best then Jackson’s flip to the Hurricanes could be the start of an issue. - Adam Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director
Sting factor: 5