A.C. Leonard decommits, opens up recruitment

By Adam Silverstein
October 13, 2010

Four-star tight end recruit A.C. Leonard (Jacksonville, FL) decommitted from the Florida Gators on Wednesday and said the team no longer remains in the hunt for his services, according to Justin Wells of 247Sports. Leonard, who was Florida’s third-highest rated recruit for 2011, was also the Gators’ second commitment for that recruiting cycle.

Recently pursued heavily by the Alabama Crimson Tide, Leonard attended Florida’s 33-29 loss to LSU over the weekend during an unofficial visit to Gainesville, FL. He left Saturday’s game saying, “Yeah, I guess,” when asked by 247Sports if he was still committed to Florida. That has now obviously changed.

Leonard is now seriously considering Alabama, Miami and Nebraska but has listed his recruitment as “open” to everyone except Florida which “is out.” He originally committed to the Gators on Nov. 29, 2009.

An official visit to the Crimson Tide was called “a real eye opening experience for me” by Leonoard last week, according to BamaOnLine.com. “The whole experience was first-class,” he said just days after Alabama defeated Florida. “I talked to Coach [Nick] Saban Sunday morning at breakfast and he basically told me they really wanted me in Tuscaloosa. […] I really liked everything he had to say and the plan he would have.”

18 Comments

  1. npgator says:

    We will lose others with the way we are playing. BTW – there is no way that he recommits to the Gators. I think we are on the way down.

  2. Mr2Bits says:

    No surprise here as our inept offense was the topic of conversation with all the recruits. I would not be surprised to see a few more go possibly even Driskel

    It seems Gator verbal commitment Latroy Pittman had more to say about our offense and why the fans were booing late in the game:

    “They felt the play-calling was not good,” he said. “It just shows the fans want to see more excitement from the offense. You can’t advertise great speed and talent, but never throw deep or have any long runs and not expect the viewers to have question and concern and frustration.”

  3. Wingtee says:

    The word commitment is bs nowadays. Of course it’s been that way for awhile. This will be the first of many. I remember many Gator fans were poking fun at FSU recruiting. We need to always remember thinga are never the same in the college sports world.

    It may be our time !!!

  4. brlgator says:

    I am confused:

    A.C. Leonard (Jacksonville, FL) decommitted from the Florida Gators on Wednesday but said the team remains in the hunt for his services,

    vs

    Leonard is now seriously considering Alabama, Miami and Nebraska but has listed his recruitment as “open” to everyone except Florida which “is out.”

    Which one is it remians in hunt or is out?

  5. SaraGator says:

    Sounds like he was looking for a reason to decommit from Florida. Saturday night’s play calling provided that decision.

    Oh well… good luck to him. I still have faith in Coach Meyer in righting this ship.

  6. PLHU says:

    Addazio’s offensive line coaching skills, questionable……Play Calling, questionable….Now losing recruits??……..I know it’s one guy,but what if this becomes a trend?

  7. It seems like every one including the recruits are seeing what the coaching staff either is not seeing or not addressing that the game plans have not been put in place to use our current talent correctly. I think we all want to support our team and our coaches but are very frustrated and/or confused by what we are seeing. I hope they are working behind the scenes to make some big changes but I fear we will see more of the same. It seems we have been stuck on the same track since last year…it’s time to evolve or wither.

  8. Oscar says:

    Don’t worry, according to Addazio and Meyer, EVERYTHING is fine!!!
    Let’s keep this Addazio BS going and we will keep loosing more offensive prospects.

  9. Drew 4 Orange & Blue says:

    How about Leach for OC?

  10. J.hunt says:

    Don’t worry about this guy, I watched him play against West Nassau. The kid isn’t a team player and is the laziest player on the field. Every time he didn’t get the ball he took all of those plays off. Florida doesn’t need that anyways.

  11. Ebb & Flow says:

    No1 can be on top forever. Look at Miami & FSU. We won 2 titles last decade. We will be back soon. As FSU knows all too well, without the coaching, it does not matter how many #1 classes we get. #1 classes are nothing without the proper coaching & proper recruits for our system.

  12. DCgator says:

    Well shoot, he sounds like such an articulate, gracious young man. We sure will miss his 5 second 40 time. Best of luck setting blocks at Bama.

  13. lee bernick says:

    Nu’Keese Richardson

  14. John S says:

    Hope this didn’t have to do with the booing. Damn.

  15. Oscar says:

    You guys who are saying “oh well, we won’t miss him… we don’t need that at Florida” are completely missing the point. This was a Florida recruit (I doubt we go out recruiting players we don’t need/want). While no one can really say with 100% certainty the reason why he de-committed from the Gators, it appears that his perception of what we are doing offensively is what made him not consider the Gators anymore. And if that is the case, who can blame him? Our offensive play-calling is extremely limited as far as pass plays is concerned… actually, it is very limited, period. If it was reason enough for this recruit to de-commit, then what can we expect from the better prospects out there? Do we just wait and hope that they stick around?

  16. todd w says:

    They can’t all be Gators. Some have to be GatorBait!!

  17. jamesorlando says:

    At least he is not committing to LSU,FSU or …..Miss St

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