WR James Gardner Decommits

Its widely known that recruiting is one of the more mysterious facets of college athletics. There are always twists and turns and unexpected events that happen along the way that would surprise even the most “in the know” recruiting analysts. One unexpected event happened yesterday when WR James Gardner announced on Twitter that he was flipping his commitment to Miami(OH).

IM OFFICIALLY COMMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI OHIO #REDHAWKS pic.twitter.com/Ag7CoeVx5E

— James Gardner (@james3gardner) December 9, 2014

Gardner had been committed to Cincinnati since June 27th. All along seemed pretty solid in his commitment, so this one came across as bit of a shocker. While we most likely will never know the reason of why he flipped, I could speculate. Coach Tuberville and staff have made it known that they love speed and athleticism. Their recruits need to have both of those traits relative to their position to even get looked at by the staff. According to Gardners 247 Page, his 40 yard dash time is 4.78. There could be a chance that number is inaccurate, but if true he does not seem to have the speed factor that this staff loves. It could be that the staff cooled on him and turned their attention to other WRs in this class. Whatever the case may be, Gardner is no longer a Bearcat which brings the 2015 commitment total to 17, leaving 8 spots open to the magic number of 25.

To replace Gardner, the staff no doubt would like to add another WR to this class and luckily they have kept recruiting the position as of late. Some possible replacements are:

• Brad Stewart, a 6′ 2″ WR from Georgia who currently has offers from Chattanooga, Marshall and Cincinnati. Currently the 168th WR in the class of 2015 and a three-star (82) recruit.
• Trevon Story, a 5′ 9″ WR from Cleveland Glenville who has offers from Cincinnati, Illinois and Kentucky among others. Currently the 132nd WR in the class of 2015 and is a composite three-star (84) recruit.
• Khalil Lewis, a 5′ 11″ WR from Florida who is currently committed to West Virginia. He visited UC this season and has offers from Cincinnati, OSU, Miami Fla., UCF and Louisville among other. Currently the 93rd WR in the class of 2015 and also a three-star (87) recruit.