Inquisitive about simply how fluid faculty soccer recruiting might be?
Hylton Stubbs, the five-star security out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin Excessive Faculty, advised Rivals on November 14 he was “driving with Miami” regardless of the quantity of packages working to vary his longstanding dedication.
On Sunday, the senior spent a while in Gainesville along with his childhood favourite Florida Gators, which occur to be the most well liked program in faculty soccer recruiting. By Monday, it was no secret {that a} flip to Billy Napier’s program was within the works.
Stubbs confirmed as a lot and he now sits as not solely a UF verbal dedication, however the highest-rated one at that.
“After an incredible go to to the College of Florida yesterday, I’ve determined to decommit from Miami and decide to the Gators,” Stubbs advised Rivals. “The principle cause for this choice is my perception within the soccer program and the unbelievable alternative to compete for a nationwide championship.
“Coach Napier’s imaginative and prescient, management, and real method stood out to me, and I’m assured he’s constructing one thing particular in Gainesville. I’m excited to play for a coach who prioritizes growth each on and off the sphere. Go Gators!”
A high 10 class appears like the ground for this system following a speedy stand up the ranks since mid November.
The Stubbs flip, particularly contemplating the timing of it with simply two days remaining till Nationwide Signing Day, hits laborious within the recruiting world. Not solely is he a five-star expertise, however the security tape he has put collectively as an upperclassman combines along with his athletic traits to kind a recruit we anticipate to hit the bottom operating on the subsequent degree. In evaluating Miami’s state of affairs to Florida’s, it strikes at the next degree given how UM’s late-season fall was centered on the secondary and its shortcomings.
For Florida, that is as longstanding a recruiting win for Napier because it will get. Stubbs grew up a giant Gator fan, but this system all the time appeared to be hovering close to the highest of his checklist — however not often No. 1 when the primary two verbal commitments went down. Nevertheless, the workers caught with it and at last obtained that late return go to on the heels of its mixture of on-field momentum and confidence round Napier’s future.
One might argue that the Stubbs choice is probably the most crucial or telling for UF’s stand up the rankings, given the way it missed out on his pledge at a number of phases earlier within the yr. Flipping him from an in-state rival who is understood to work higher on the recruiting path makes it that a lot sweeter for the only real SEC college within the Sunshine State.
