Sting Factor: Dominic Lovett flips from Arizona State to Missouri
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 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.
MORE: Lovett to stay closer to home at Missouri
ARIZONA STATE'S COMMITMENT LIST
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CLASS OF 2021 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
CLASS OF 2022 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Position | Team | State
COVERAGE: Rivals Transfer Tracker | Rivals Camp Series
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THE STORYLINE
The recruitment of four-star East St. Louis receiver Dominic Lovett kicked into overdrive last winter and his offer list cruised into double digits by the spring. Teammate and quarterback Tyler Macon committed to Missouri in March and it looked like Lovett was going to follow suit. He even admitted that committing to the Tigers was on his mind this past off-season, but then in June an offer came in from Arizona State.
The Arizona State staff quickly made up ground in Lovett’s recruitment, connecting not only with the four-star receiver but also with his mother. He got to know current players on the Sun Devils’ team and his mother started to plan to move to Arizona herself when Lovett made his commitment back in September.
Lovett was the fourth Midwest commitment for Arizona State when he announced his decision. A month later, though, the Sun Devils parted ways with two commitments from Wisconsin, and defensive lineman Caleb Banks switched his commitment from Arizona State to Louisville a few weeks later. On Friday, Lovett also made the decision not to sign with the Sun Devils, and switched his commitment to Missouri.
The hang-up between Lovett and Arizona State appears to be when he would enroll. Lovett worked himself into a position to graduate high school and enroll in college mid-year, but Arizona State did not have a spot open for Lovett to come in January after taking a transfer recently. The opportunity to continue that quarterback-receiver chemistry with Macon at Missouri still held high appeal, and Lovett’s decision gives Eli Drinkwitz another big recruiting win in St. Louis.
LOCAL REACTION
“I have somewhat mixed feelings on Lovett’s decommitment from Arizona State. On the one hand, ASU is certainly not the type of program where you shrug off losing four-star prospects, so I know fans will be disappointed by that fact alone and with such a small class that will be signing in December, I further understand that sentiment. I also know that there isn’t much proven talent at the slot wide receiver role, so not having someone like Lovett on your roster has the potential to hurt you down the road.
"On the other hand, the numbers for the Sun Devils at wide receiver are strong overall with a lot of returning players, and I really do like the commitment of four-star WR Lonyatta Alexander, who is more of a physical wideout. Therefore, it’s not as if ASU totally struck out there. As long as the more pressing needs of the 2021 class can be addressed, I think Lovett’s decommitment won’t be impactful. – Hod Rabino, DevilsDigest.com
Sting factor: 6
NATIONAL REACTION
“Losing a 4-star skill position player is always tough, no matter what program, but this isn’t that bad for Arizona State. They spot recruit the Midwest, they have Alexander and a few other guys who can impact on offense in this class and they are recruiting well at the position off of the N’Keal Harry and Brandon Aiyuk first-round selections.” — Mike Farrell, National Recruiting Director, Rivals.com
Sting factor: 5