Sting Factor: Creed Whittemore flips from Florida to Mississippi State

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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Creed Whittemore is from Gainesville. His brother, Trent, plays on the Florida football team. The three-star athlete had been committed to the Gators for more than five months.

But after taking a recent visit to Mississippi State, Whittemore has decided to flip his commitment to the Bulldogs. It’s a big win for coach Mike Leach and his staff, who have added another weapon to their Air Raid offense.

Whittemore is an interesting prospect in many respects, but mainly because he plays quarterback in high school and is projected as a wide receiver in college. That’s where his brother plays for the Gators, although in a limited capacity, and his other brother, Troy, played at Troy.

This season at Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz, Whittemore has thrown for 920 yards with 11 touchdowns and three picks and also rushed for 340 yards and six scores. That ability, plus competing in track and field, makes him an interesting wide receiver projection in the SEC.

However, it will be at Mississippi State, not down the road at Florida any longer.

While it’s always concerning to have decommitments, this situation is more about the playing time of his older brother. It is a loss in the sense that he was a one-time commitment to the Florida program, but as far as the sting factor goes we are talking about a red fire ant - the pain will not last long. Florida needs big-time difference-makers, and while Whittemore is a solid player I am not sure he is the game-breaking player for this league, even though I was very impressed with him two years ago at Friday Night Lights. - Jason Higdon, 1standTenFlorida.com

Sting Factor: 4

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Sometimes layups like these should not be missed, and Whittemore felt like an easy win for the Gators and someone who could catch a lot of passes and make life easier for Florida’s offense. He’s not a major difference-maker or the greatest receiver in the country, but not every commit needs to be. Sometimes you need that outlet, that guy who will be a reliable pass-catcher on top of being a phenomenal athlete and knows the game well since he’s been a quarterback in the high school ranks.

Florida is doing just fine with receiver recruiting this cycle, and I especially think Eugene Wilson and Aidan Mizell are exceptionally talented, so Whittemore is not a devastating loss. But having him essentially flip to an SEC competitor that we all know is going to throw the ball a ton and score points, it’s not the best news ever. - Adam Gorney, Rivals national recruiting director

Sting Factor: 6