Sting Factor: Le'Veon Moss' decommitment from Alabama
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 visits were allowed at the start of June, Le’Veon Moss stopped by LSU first and that’s no surprise since the Baton Rouge (La.) Istrouma four-star running back lives down the road from campus.
A few days later, Moss took his trip to Alabama and this is where something surprising did happen. He committed on the spot.
It was a major win for the Crimson Tide for many reasons. It rounded out Alabama’s recruiting efforts at running back as Moss joined four-star in-state standout Emmanuel Henderson, who could also play other positions.
And it was Alabama flexing its muscle by not only going into the state of Louisiana, but going into Baton Rouge, for an elite prospect.
But after only two months of being committed, Moss backed off his pledge in recent days. While it’s not a debilitating blow to the Crimson Tide, it does make their recruiting class regress a little bit heading into the season.
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LOCAL REACTION
"Moss surprised many when he announced a commitment to Alabama shortly after his first official visit with the Tide in June. He continued taking visits throughout the month and also returned to Texas A&M in late July. His commitment appeared very shaky from the start.
"Alabama signed the top running back in the country in 2021, Camar Wheaton, and also have one of the best backs committed in the 2022 class, Emmanuel Henderson. The Tide will likely continue recruiting Moss, but has also expressed heavy interest in other backs like Jovantae Barnes and Trevor Etienne." – Andrew Bone, BamaInsider.com
Sting factor: 3
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NATIONAL REACTION
“Alabama will live and knowing the Crimson Tide they will probably end up with someone as good or better than Moss, although I’d argue he’s actually underrated just because Moss doesn’t do a lot of events and so seeing him against national competition is difficult.
"If an Alabama commit could be considered off the radar, Moss would fit that bill well. Getting a commitment from him over the summer was big and made a statement that Alabama could still go into Louisiana for elite talent. But that did not last long. Barnes is very talented, I would be surprised if Etienne ends up in Tuscaloosa and so there is some work to do to land another high-level running back in this class.
"Alabama should be fine but it is a minor setback especially if Moss ends up at LSU or Texas A&M now.” – Adam Gorney, Rivals National Recruiting Director
Sting factor: 6