By Vince Ferrara / @VinceSports
My previous blog listed the numbers of football decommits in the SEC, using the 247Sports decommit database, in the last 30 months.
Read that blog, “Vince’s View,” here.
That last blog explains the slightly varying start dates of the 30-month period to now.
Here are a few of the notable players that have decommitted in the last 30 months around the SEC and where they ended up. Some names listed are playing or signed with the school listed while others are just commitments at the moment.
Noteable decommits from the SEC in the last 30 months
Florida (31)
DL Morven Joseph (Tennessee)
DB Kamar Wilcoxson (Tennessee)
LB Terrence Lewis (Tennessee)
Tennessee (30)
QB Adrian Martinez (Nebraska)
DB Trey Dean (Florida)
DB Tanner Ingle (NC State)
LB Lakia Henry (Ole Miss)
Mississippi State (27)
DB/LB Tamarion McDonald (Tennessee)
Arkansas (26)
DL Emmit Gooden (Tennessee)
DL John Mincey (Tennessee)
LB Martavius French (Tennessee)
LB Drew Francis (Middle Tennessee/West HS in Knoxville)
DL Tyrece Edwards (Middle Tennessee/West HS in Knoxville)
Ole Miss (26)
RB Jabari Small (Tennessee)
LSU (22)
DB Ar’Darius Washington (TCU)
OL Kerryon Green (Texas A&M)
WR Rakim Jarrett (Maryland)
Alabama (18)
LB Quay Walker (Georgia)
DB Daxton Hill (Michigan)
Georgia (17)
QB John Rhys Plumlee (Ole Miss)
RB John Emery Jr. (LSU)
WR Jadon Haselwood (Oklahoma)
Missouri (16)
LB Antonio Doyle (Texas A&M)
Kentucky (14)
WR Wandale Robinson (Nebraska)
Auburn (12)
WR George Pickens (Georgia)
South Carolina (12)
DB Bryce Thompson (Tennessee)
Texas A&M (10)
LB Christian Harris (Alabama)
Vanderbilt (5)
WR Miles Jones Jr. (Nebraska/Tennessee)
I focused more on players that landed at Tennessee, but I still think it’s noteworthy that 10 landed with the Vols from other SEC schools. Pruitt and the staff haven’t needed to rely on flipping recruits this year, but it reflects that they aren’t afraid to do it and are effective it. That also should be kept in mind with 6-plus months to ESP and 8-plus months to NSD.
Can you imagine your team with those misses list above? Some are obviously bigger than others.
The notion that “it doesn’t matter who you don’t get, but who you do get” is garbage. Tell any program that’s regularly missed out on elite, star players (Tennessee and others) that those players couldn’t have helped turn the fortunes of their program around. Yes, the players you get (the hits and the misses) are very important. But, game-changers players you could have had should not be dismissed as factors either.
Find more of my broadcasting work at VinceSports.net.