Sting Factor: Jake Slaughter's decommitment from Florida 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 1-10, with one being no big deal and 10 being a catastrophic hit.

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Jake Slaughter committed to Florida State in April. But in May, Florida offered the three-star offensive lineman from Ocala (Fla.) Trinity Catholic and that’s when his recruitment got really interesting.

In recent days, Slaughter flipped his commitment from the Seminoles to the Gators and while it was not a complete shock, it still took a bite out of Florida State’s class and especially along the offensive line where Bryson Estes from McDonough (Ga.) Eagle’s Landing Christian is was left as the lone commit in that group until Kimo Makaneole from Niceville, Fla. committed this weekend.

Slaughter grew up less than 45 minutes from Florida’s campus in Gainesville and he has a great relationship with assistant coach John Hevesy. After getting offered over the last few months the three-star prospect decided to flip his commitment.

Florida State needs as much offensive line help as possible. And it’s never good to lose an in-state commitment to one of your heated rivals. But is the loss of Slaughter to the Gators a major problem or can FSU rebound in this recruiting class?

“Certainly it's a loss for Florida State because they spent a lot of time on Jake in this cycle. But at the same time I believe FSU knew the possibility was there that Slaughter could opt for the school that is close to home. Adding Estes in the class eases the blow here as he is a solid possibility to play center for FSU.

"Slaughter grew up a fan of the Gators and while he came across firm in that relationship with FSU and the staff, it was still a possibility when UF offered in early July. I've said this before that whether Slaughter stuck with FSU or not, it wasn't going to make or break the class. Now if it was a tackle I might feel differently. But FSU has been working on several options for the center position or the Interior so they were not caught off guard. Only reason I had the sting this high would be because they lost him to Florida.” - Michael Langston, Warchant.com

Sting factor: 4

“Adding Makaneole is important here and Estes can play center, but I really like Slaughter better than some others because he gets downfield so well and can play center or either guard position. FSU went out and offered Manankeole after they lost Slaughter, so he’s a bit of a fill-in commit along the offensive line. Losing him after so much effort to land him and keep him this cycle hurts." - Mike Farrell, Rivals.com National Recruiting Director

Sting factor: 7