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Sting Factor: Mykel Williams flips from USC to UGA

Mykel Williams
Mykel Williams (Nick Lucero/Rivals.com)

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

Mykel Williams took a visit to USC this summer. He loved it and ended up committing shortly after leaving Los Angeles.

The pledge to the Trojans stuck through the remainder of the offseason and even well after coach Clay Helton was fired.

All the while, Georgia recruited the five-star defensive end from Columbus (Ga.) Hardaway. Williams started taking visits to Athens. He closely watched the defense.

And that was never going to be good news for USC.

Williams flipped his commitment to Georgia on Wednesday after taking another visit to Athens this past weekend to see the Bulldogs’ dominant performance over Kentucky.

The five-star said Georgia’s lights-out defense was a major factor in his flip to the Bulldogs, that being a part of such a dominant unit was drawing him to the SEC powerhouse.

USC did everything it could to keep Williams in the fold but a coaching change, the distance from home and the dominance of Georgia this season – especially on defense – was too much to turn down.

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LOCAL REACTION

This definitely stings for USC, but it wasn't a surprise at this point so there's no shock factor here. The Trojans are going to struggle to keep highly-rated out-of-state commits while there's no clarity on who will be coaching the team in two months. In Williams' case, a large selling point on USC for him was defensive line coach Vic So'oto. They really hit it off through his recruitment and on his official visit. So'oto's future with the program is as in flux as the rest of the staff right now, save for probably ace recruiter Donte Williams.

This was expected, but the sting is the what-if. Back in June, the Trojans surprised a lot of other programs when they landed Williams' commitment, and it was expected his close friend, Rivals100 DT Christen Miller would join him in Los Angeles. That would have been quite a coup for USC to pull two Rivals100 prospects out of Georgia.

Miller's interest fizzled earlier this fall and the rumblings started weeks ago that Williams was looking to make a move as well. This is simply the collateral damage that comes with a mid-season coaching change." – Ryan Young, TrojanSports.com

Sting Factor: 8

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH USC FANS AT TROJANSPORTS.COM

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NATIONAL REACTION

Once Clay Helton was fired midseason, the wheels started toward the inevitability that Williams was probably not going to stick with his USC commitment. By no means is that a reason to keep a lackluster coach that was underdelivering but there was too much writing on the wall here: The uncertainty surrounding the USC coaching search and the certainty that Georgia is one of the best teams in the country was too much for Williams to turn down.

This caught very few off-guard and really it was just a matter of when Williams wanted to make the decision to flip. Georgia is getting a very talented player on a defense filled with outstanding players. USC could have absolutely used Williams’ ability but it’s not going to happen. – Adam Gorney, Rivals.com national recruiting director

Sting Factor: 7

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH GEORGIA FANS AT UGASPORTS.COM

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