The Red Raiders just lost the best quarterback commit in modern history.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders suffered a massive loss to what had been a strong 2015 recruiting class on Saturday evening when Stephenville (Texas) quarterback Jarrett Stidham announced his decommitment via Twitter:
— Jarrett Stidham (@Jarrett_Stidham) December 14, 2014
The consensus five-star prospect who is rated as the top dual-threat quarterback in the country by 247Sports had been committed to the Red Raiders since early March, when he pledged after a trip to Lubbock.
As the center piece of a strong 2015 recruiting class, Stidham was key to the rebuilding efforts of head coach Kliff Kingsbury since he was the best quarterback commit in the modern history of Texas Tech football. In that sense, Stidham's decision could send shockwaves through the rest of the class.
What's shocking about the decision is that he hadn't visibly wavered in the months since his commitment -- no visits to other schools on his 247Sports profile, no talk about re-considering his pledge. From the outside looking in, there was nothing that foreshadowed his Saturday announcement.
However, the recent success of freshman quarterback Pat Mahomes could have played a role in the decision.
As a result, the loss will leave the Red Raiders scrambling to find a quarterback in the current cycle, as well as hold together the rest of the class.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Stidham is the No. 26 player nationally, the No. 3 dual-threat quarterback, and the No. 5 player in the state of Texas.
Prior to his commitment, he held offers from Alabama, Arizona State, Auburn, Baylor, Clemson, Florida, Kentucky, Miami, Michigan, Minnesota, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, TCU, Tennessee, Texas, Texas A&M, and Washington State.
And considering how highly he is rated, most of those schools would probably still take a commitment from the 6'4, 190-pounder, even though it's late in the recruiting process.
It's not clear at this time which schools Stidham is considering, but TCU is a school that doesn't have a quarterback commit and may be increasingly appealing to the Stephenville product because of the incredible success of the Air Raid offense installed in Fort Worth this season, though the return of star quarterback Trevone Boykin means that Stidham would have to sit for a year before competing for the starting job.
Another school to watch is Baylor -- the Bears have a quarterback commit in Temple (Texas) athlete Chad President, but Stidham is a much safer bet as a more developed quarterback and head coach Art Briles has connections to Stephenville because he was a long-time coach at the school before moving on to the college ranks.
There's also Oregon, a school that recruited Stidham hard prior to his pledge and will almost certainly be looking for a new starting quarterback next season after the likely departure of Heisman winner Marcus Mariota. Interestingly enough, the decision by Stidham to decommit came shortly after Mariota was announced as the winner in New York.
So stay tuned, because one of the best quarterbacks in the country is back on the market with less than two months until Signing Day.
Source SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1qLarrJ
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