Four-star 2016 DT recruit Benito Jones flips from Alabama to Mississippi
By Mike Marteny
Benito Jones, a highly coveted four-star defensive tackle out of Wayne County High School in Waynesboro, Mississippi, announced on Sunday that he is staying home.
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Jones, the first commitment of the class of 2016 for Alabama, changed his mind about going to Tuscaloosa on Sunday afternoon, according to the Clarion-Ledger.
The 6’2″, 260lb Jones first committed to Alabama on July 13th of this year.
Jones is the number 83 ranked recruit in the 247 sports rankings, and is the number ten defensive tackle.
That still makes Jones only the third best recruit now on Mississippi’s class of 2016 recruiting list.
Signing a player over a year in advance has become commonplace in college football in recent years, but so have the decommitments. There are now over 60 just for the class of 2014 in the SEC alone! There are already over 30 decommitments from the class of 2015 or 2016.
The wave of defection among SEC schools, or worse yet, other conferences is nothing new. In fact, you are almost better off letting a recruit commit somewhere else, then try to change his mind. It only took Ole Miss a little over a month to get Jones to stay in-state.
So what is the solution to all of these defections? Many say that if you cut down on the early commitments, you will cut down on the decommitments as well. But how exactly do you stop a college coach from trying to persuade the best player to join his team?
You don’t. Not unless you outlaw it completely. And in the days of the “power five” conferences getting the power to govern themselves, this issue will likely get worse.