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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STING FACTOR: Jelani McDonald's decommitment from Oklahoma State
CLASS OF 2023 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2024 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State
CLASS OF 2025 RANKINGS: Rivals100
TRANSFER PORTAL: Stories/coverage | Message board
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THE STORYLINE
Christian Brathwaite plays the recruiting process quietly, not giving away too many hints or secrets or not publicizing what he’s thinking when it comes to schools.
The high three-star linebacker from Cypress (Texas) Cypress Ranch had been committed to Baylor since January and has largely stayed under the recruiting radar through the offseason and into his senior year but LSU recently turned up the heat and it didn’t take too long to flip him from the Bears.
In recent days, Brathwaite changed his commitment to LSU and things really sparked up after the Texas prospect visited Baton Rouge for the Tigers’ win over Ole Miss last weekend. Defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Matt House was reportedly involved in getting this flip to happen.
The Cypress Ranch standout is the lone linebacker commit so far in LSU’s class. As for Baylor, four-star Corey Kelly and three-star Taurean York are still locked in with the Bears, who are expected to fill the loss of Brathwaite with another linebacker for the 2023 group.
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LOCAL REACTION
This is a big loss for Baylor's 2023 recruiting class for a couple of reasons. First, Brathwaite was considered one of the signature defensive players because of his skill set and flexibility to either play straight-up or with a hand on the ground. Second, he had been committed to Dave Aranda's program since late January. It appeared that things were in good shape. Not unprecedented, but it is rare to see someone who had been in the fold for so long flip. It's going to be a challenge for this staff to find someone of Brathwaite's caliber. Time will tell if Aranda's staff goes HS, JUCO or transfer portal. - Kevin Lonnquist, SicEmSports.com
Sting factor: 9
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NATIONAL REACTION
Brathwaite is a very talented player who could be in the discussion for a four-star ranking plus it’s a position of need in Baylor’s class and he had been committed to the Bears for so long so this one definitely hurts but it’s not the end of the world for this recruiting class. There is already a healthy list of other linebackers that Baylor could pursue and playing in that defense could be very appealing to a lot of talented recruits. Keeping Brathwaite would have been ideal and the first choice for the Bears but that did not happen. Still, there are many other options that could make a big impact on Baylor’s defense in the coming years. - Adam Gorney, National Recruiting Director
Sting factor: 6
