Decommit Data

[WASH ST A&M FAN]

It would be interesting to check on some of the Decommits that bailed on the Cougs the final Month & Half over the last 4yrs.

I recall Oregon & Cal stealing kids late but haven't heard a lot from those kids at those programs.

My guess is, key contributors such as Deontay Burnett at USC, Darren Gardenhire & Tristan Vizcaino at UW are the exceptions.

Those late filler kids seem to run for greener pastures forgetting they were past over for studs Sept ~ Nov.

In the end, I wonder if they seem to "underachieve" at other schools due to not getting the coaching, reps, playing time due to being a last minute filler Plan B.

The Data Would Be Interesting

 

[cr8zyncalif]

A&M, I think you are mostly right. Most of the kids we've lost late, going back as far as I can remember, left for one of three reasons (and sometimes more than one; the three are not mutually exclusive):

1.) A high profile school misses on their plan A and plan B kids and are looking to fill out the class. In most cases these kids get a nice signing day experience but never see the field, or if they do it is very late in their career. Hindsight can be a rough teacher for many of these kids.
2.) A new HC at another school is inheriting a mess and is able to tell a recruit with a straight face that there is nobody on the existing roster that they like (since that HC did not recruit any of them) and there will be immediate playing time. Of course that is usually a lie, but it is what many kids want to hear. And I'll point out that we've used that same line ourselves when we have a new incoming HC.
3.) A kid who has been a commit to us for a while is not getting his academics in order. Rather than go thru the embarrassment of getting bounced, he announces that he has flipped…usually to a lesser status conference…for all kinds of reasons relating to campus visit experience to a new relationship with a wonderful assistant coach to mom wanting him closer to home.

 

[Coug1990]

It would be interesting to check on some of the Decommits that bailed on the Cougs the final Month & Half over the last 4yrs.

I recall Oregon & Cal stealing kids late but haven't heard a lot from those kids at those programs.

My guess is, key contributors such as Deontay Burnett at USC, Darren Gardenhire & Tristan Vizcaino at UW are the exceptions.

Those late filler kids seem to run for greener pastures forgetting they were past over for studs Sept ~ Nov.

In the end, I wonder if they seem to "underachieve" at other schools due to not getting the coaching, reps, playing time due to being a last minute filler Plan B.

The Data Would Be Interesting

Gardenhire ended up quitting the uw program during this past season. Vizcaino has been a contributor, but at punter, not kicker, where he has been decidedly mediocre.

 

[YakiCoug]

Gardenhire ended up quitting the uw program during this past season. Vizcaino has been a contributor, but at punter, not kicker, where he has been decidedly mediocre.

Austin Joyner was another one who reneged on his WSU commitment. I think he's mainly a special teams player but he has seen action in the d-backfield.

 

[Wasichus]

Austin Joyner was another one who reneged on his WSU commitment. I think he's mainly a special teams player but he has seen action in the d-backfield.

Joyner missed his first year due to a knee injury. He was healthy this year and played mostly special teams. But I think he got some db reps, too?

Couldn't say much more than that because I don't pay close attention to them.

 

[Coug1990]

Decommits are part of the game now. It happens at all programs. While we hate it, the decommitted players will be replaced by other players.

 

[YakiCoug]

Decommits are part of the game now. It happens at all programs. While we hate it, the decommitted players will be replaced by other players.

Even Alabama has lost a couple.

 

[425cougfan]

A&M, I think you are mostly right. Most of the kids we've lost late, going back as far as I can remember, left for one of three reasons (and sometimes more than one; the three are not mutually exclusive):

1.) A high profile school misses on their plan A and plan B kids and are looking to fill out the class. In most cases these kids get a nice signing day experience but never see the field, or if they do it is very late in their career. Hindsight can be a rough teacher for many of these kids.
2.) A new HC at another school is inheriting a mess and is able to tell a recruit with a straight face that there is nobody on the existing roster that they like (since that HC did not recruit any of them) and there will be immediate playing time. Of course that is usually a lie, but it is what many kids want to hear. And I'll point out that we've used that same line ourselves when we have a new incoming HC.
3.) A kid who has been a commit to us for a while is not getting his academics in order. Rather than go thru the embarrassment of getting bounced, he announces that he has flipped…usually to a lesser status conference…for all kinds of reasons relating to campus visit experience to a new relationship with a wonderful assistant coach to mom wanting him closer to home.

Nice job laying this out ... I'd thought about it but hadn't really arrived at coherent groupings like this. You're right. Once in a great while one of these kids will flip late and wind up having a good career (e.g., Bishop Sankey, Deontay Burnett), but I'd say at least 90% of the time these kids go after the bright shiny object and then wind up never panning out at their new schools. Some of them were just overhyped or weren't that good, but I think many of them would have had more success at WSU if they had stayed.

 

[Fab5Coug]

Demarcus Ayers was really good at Houston. Think he was top 5 or so in receiving his senior year and got drafted, and I think still plays for the Steelers.

You're right though, the Ayers, Burnett & Bishop Snakey guys seem to be the exception, not the rule.

 

[425cougfan]

Demarcus Ayers was really good at Houston. Think he was top 5 or so in receiving his senior year and got drafted, and I think still plays for the Steelers.

You're right though, the Ayers, Burnett & Bishop Snakey guys seem to be the exception, not the rule.

Fair re Ayers. I'd have to go back, but I recall him as being the kind of kid who was all over the place during his recruitment and seemed to ultimately want to stay closer to home (I'm guessing), which is why he wound up at Houston instead of in the Power 5 somewhere. I don't view him as one of these paradigmatic flips where WSU has him committed for a reasonable period and then Big School X offers a couple weeks before signing day and flips him. Those are arbitrary bases for differentiating him, though, and he definitely has panned out. Would have liked to see what he would have done at WSU.

 

[Fab5Coug]

Fair re Ayers. I'd have to go back, but I recall him as being the kind of kid who was all over the place during his recruitment and seemed to ultimately want to stay closer to home (I'm guessing), which is why he wound up at Houston instead of in the Power 5 somewhere. I don't view him as one of these paradigmatic flips where WSU has him committed for a reasonable period and then Big School X offers a couple weeks before signing day and flips him. Those are arbitrary bases for differentiating him, though, and he definitely has panned out. Would have liked to see what he would have done at WSU.

As I recall, he was committed to WSU, then kind of got caught up in the hype of his own recruitment. He was friends with a guy who was a little more big time of a recruit than he was and I think Ayers thought if he decommitted, he'd have the same kind of attention as his friend. Can't remember the other guys name. Hall? He was a DE/DL. Anyway, I think Ayers didn't end up with the offers he thought and "ended up" at Houston. Still, had a real nice career. He was talented.