Bryce Brown finally commits…

After dragging this thing out as long and as selfishly as humanly possible, top-rated recruit Bryce Brown finally committed today.

After verbally committing to the Miami Hurricanes within a week of Signing Day ’08 and pledging to enroll early, Brown reneged on his word and is now inking a letter of intent a month after Signing Day ’09. Along the way he’s strung along the Oregon Ducks, LSU Tigers and Kansas State Wildcats.

The circus is finally over and Brown is headed to Tennessee to play for Lane Kiffin and the Volunteers. The Brown family wanted Miami, but it seems Randy Shannon stuck to his word and didn’t re-offer Brown a scholarship. The Canes are sticking with Mike James, who’s already turning heads in practice, and Lamar Miller, headed to The U this summer.

ESPN’s recruiting guru Tom Luginbill chimed in on the action and said the following: 

“I have to applaud the University of Miami. They were not going to allow one player to manipulate or control the situation. I think they got to the point with the National Letter of Intent that they gave Bryce Brown had a life span on it and that date, I believe, was February 18th and they told him he had until the life of that Letter of Intent to sign and become a Miami Hurricane and when he chose not to do so, they withdrew their scholarship offer.

I like Miami taking the upper hand. You can’t allow a player to just take control of the situation. They found two other good running backs in their class and now Bryce Brown has gone off and feels he’s found himself in the best situation for him.”

Good riddance, Bryce. Glad to see the circus will be setting up in Knoxville instead of Coral Gables. With the two freshman running back and veterans Javarris James, Graig Cooper and Lee Chambers, safe to say the Canes are stacked at running backs – not only talent-wise, but character-wise. These kids save their game playing for the field, not with the media.

Kudos to Shannon for sticking to his word. Part of me felt that if Brown wanted in, Miami would cave. Especially with older brother Arthur Brown Jr. one year into his UM experience.

In his speech, Bryce noted that both his brother and father were pushing The U. It was even reported that B.B. was even seen wearing a Canes cap early on at today’s presser. Had a scholarship been re-offered, there’s little doubt the running back would’ve headed to Coral Gables.

This is 100% Shannon’s doing and I applaud him for keeping out the type of player he’s been trying to weed out these past few years. Shannon has oft referred to himself as a teacher or father-type figure and he just taught Bryce Brown a very valuable life lesson about commitment, keeping your word and being a man. A big part of growing up is dealing with loss or disappointment and safe to say that while Bryce will be fine at Tennessee (and hopefully running all over Florida for years to come), he will always know he missed out on something special at Miami, most notably the U Family experience and getting to suit up with big brother Arthur.

Back to spring football. Go Canes.

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