Robinson spurns Florida, flips back to Clemson

By Adam Silverstein
December 17, 2012

Less than one week after four-star wide receiver Demarcus Robinson (Fort Valley, GA) decommitted from the Clemson Tigers and pledged to join the Florida Gators’ 2013 recruiting class, the top-tier pass catcher had a change of heart and decided to rescind his promise to Florida and recommit to play for Clemson next season.

According to Rivals affiliate TigerIllustrated.com, which first reported his flip, the Gators have lost arguably their most important commitment since head coach Will Muschamp took over the program as Robinson was a top-tier talent at a major position of need. UF’s leading returning receiver, redshirt sophomore Quinton Dunbar, reeled in just 31 receptions for 306 yards and four touchdowns during the 2012 season.

Robinson was the third pass catcher listed at 6’2” or taller and the fifth overall wide receiver to make a pledge for Florida this cycle. He is a Rivals100 and ESPN 300 talent who is respectively listed as the No. 48 and No. 157 overall prospect in the nation.

A big target with plenty of strength and more than enough speed, Robinson would have been the highest-rated receiver to sign with the Gators since Andre Debose (No. 21) in 2009. His flip to Florida was believed to be fueled, in part, by UF’s hiring of Joker Phillips as receivers coach.

Robinson had been long considering a switch to the Gators and chose to do so following a meeting with Muschamp, Phillips and running backs coach Brian White last Wednesday. He met with members of the Tigers’ coaching staff late in the week and chose to make a change even after visiting Florida over the weekend.

The Gators do still have four remaining receivers committed for the 2013 cycle in four-stars Ahmad Fulwood (Jacksonville, FL) and Alvin Bailey (Seffner, FL) and three-stars Marqui Hawkins (Columbus, GA) and Chris Thompson (Gainesville, FL).

Florida now has 25 total pledges including 24 that count as members of the 2013 recruiting class. The Gators will likely look to add a fifth receiver to their class.

14 Comments

  1. GatorCooken says:

    How does that happen when he was ON OUR CAMPUS? I heard he was already signing up for classes as he is an EE. Something had to have gone down, but it was a dead period I thought? Adam, shed some light on this if you can, seems very shady.

  2. Alex says:

    This is why the postseason is terrible. We have to pay attention to 17 year olds who can’t make up their minds.

    We all know he decommitted because that new linebacker committed and he didn’t want to compete

  3. bwright22 says:

    Maybe he didn’t like the way our basketball team played saturday night…

  4. Gator BKP says:

    It’s a shame that his family would allow him to be so indecisive in such a short time frame. If one of our WRs don’t break out and have a good year next season then it’s gonna be hard for us to ever get a top pass catcher again for a long time. Sucks

  5. ziggy says:

    Clemson will be the next one to go down with recruiting violations. To many high profile commits for no apparent reason.

    • Alex says:

      Too bad they still can’t win anything.

    • Tractorr says:

      And it has been there for awhile. I think one of the reasons why they don’t get much scrutiny is that it is Clemson. It is in the middle of nowhere SC so no one cares. Though if these recruits ever start paying off that is when the media and the spotlight starts bringing things to the surface.

  6. MAR says:

    Maybe Dabo bought him a Hummer as a panic response.

  7. Walt P says:

    Just check his HS coach account. But it’s other kids that play ball UF will be ok. Go Gators

  8. Since there are a lot of comments in this thread, are those of you commenting OK with me adding the CAPTCHA? I’ve only added it for non-registered users. So if you’re logged in, you don’t see it and don’t know what i’m talking about. But if you are someone who fills out the info. in the comment field each time, you also have a CAPTCHA now. That working out OK?

  9. scooterp says:

    Not sure what the hell happened here, could be the visit, could be his HS coach, could be that our passing offense has looked like crap for 3 years, could be a lot of things. Whatever. We have 4 good recruits that want to be Gators. Don’t belly-ache over the one kid who isn’t sure………. And Adam “most important commitment since WM tookover…” C’,mon really? Driskel? K Taylor? VHIII?

  10. Donnie wise says:

    I was happy before he commited, very happy after and still happy after he was gone. Lets not lose sight of the insane amount of talent across the board with this recruiting class. Do we have a harvin,Caldwell,Jackson,or green on campus yet? No, but we have our leading receiver returning that’s not a t.e. we have 2 true freshman who got game experience this year. We have as of now 4 very impressive incoming recruits. And more importantly we have a legit coach at the position for the first time in almost 7 years. If joker got in his ear in only a week and imagine what a full year of recruiting will bring. Go Gators!

  11. MAR says:

    Captcha is fine with me Adam. I must have forgot basic arithmetic as I couldn’t get the right answer at first.

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