Just when the recruitment of 4-star defensive tackle Travonte Valentine doesn’t seem it can get any stranger, it does precisely that—taking turn after turn, without any rhyme or reason.
Valentine—a former University of Miami verbal commit for the better part of last year—has appeared LSU-bound for weeks now. The highly-covteted lineman trekked to Baton Rouge two weeks back, soaked up the experience and returned to South Florida with the Tigers firmly on the brain.
Miami coaches continued recruiting Valentine, hoping to close him on an official visit the final weekend of recruiting season. Instead, the trip was cancelled last minute—opting for some quiet time to ponder, opposed to hearing one last pitch.
While that might read like a setback for the Hurricanes and a slam dunk for the Tigers, in reality it’s neither. Truth be told, the only thing to come out of Valentine’s entire recruiting process—the simply fact that nothing means anything and that everything remains wide open, down to the final hour.
Miami understandably felt good about Valentine with his July commitment appearing iron clad, as reported by Kynon Codrington of Rivals.com:
“I was planning on making a November decision, but things changed. I took a trip to Miami recently with my family and we loved it. I knew it was the place for me and my family supported it. It was different than any other trip because I had my family with me,” Valentine said.
“Before I just committed to Louisville then UF without any help from my family. I’m done. This is my last commitment. I’m shutting recruiting down. I’m ready to be a Hurricane.”
The sentiment came off humble, straightforward and unwavering—especially as 2013 came to a close and Valentines pledge to “The U” was six months and running before recruiting opened back up.
Some are quick to blame Miami head coach Al Golden and his short-lived flirtation with Penn State as Valentine’s reason for decommiting. Fact is, the defensive tackle had a trip to LSU on the books weeks before any talk of a coaching change, as reported by Rivals.com.
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