🏈 Four-star safety Laurence 'Hootie' Jones de-commits from Alabama

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Monroe (La.) Neville safety had committed to Alabama over LSU just a couple of weeks ago.

Amid the news of junior-college signees Jarran Reed and D.J. Pettway joining -- or re-joining -- the program, Alabama also got some bad recruiting news Wednesday, as four-star safety Laurence "Hootie" Jones announced via Twitter that he is reopening his recruitment.


Scout.com's John Garcia, Jr., reported that Jones, who had committed to Alabama over LSU just two weeks ago, confirmed the news to him via text. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound safety from Monroe (La.) Neville was one of three safeties in the Crimson Tide's 2014 class, along with Ronnie Clark and Chris Williams, and was one of three Alabama commitments from the Monroe area, along with offensive tackle Cameron Robinson and receiver Cameron Sims.






Read More Here...

 

[bama alum]

Hootie Jones Decommits

I guess he'll be staying home after all. Crap!

 

[JoshB]

Bama Losses Another Recruit

Just two weeks after committing, good lord...

Amid the news of junior-college signees Jarran Reed and D.J. Pettway joining -- or re-joining -- the program, Alabama also got some bad recruiting news Wednesday, as four-star safety Laurence "Hootie" Jones announced via Twitter that he is reopening his recruitment.

I just decommit from Alabama, i need more time.!
-- LockDown (@LJ7_Era) December 18, 2013​

Scout.com's John Garcia, Jr., reported that Jones, who had committed to Alabama over LSU just two weeks ago, confirmed the news to him via text. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound safety from Monroe (La.) Neville was one of three safeties in the Crimson Tide's 2014 class, along with Ronnie Clark and Chris Williams, and was one of three Alabama commitments from the Monroe area, along with offensive tackle Cameron Robinson and receiver Cameron Sims.


He and four-star Meridian (Miss.) safety C.J. Hampton, who is set to announce a decision between Ole Miss and Alabama on Friday, are also good friends.

 

[TerryP]

It's an interesting story.

I saw a reference to one of the 247 guys for LSU where it was said "he was told Hootie didn't believe the official visit lived up to his expectations." As many times as he's been in Tuscaloosa outside of his official (I believe it's three unofficial, plus at least that many camps) hearing something like that—which could be a suggestion we somehow dropped the ball on his official—seems, well, just odd.

This very well may end up being a situation where the in-state pressure has been overwhelming and he's trying to water it down.

As of right now it's not a flip to LSU though it very well may end up being just that. He has said that he's "considering everywhere" and still plans on enroll in January.

We'll know how this ends soon enough. I don't think it's a sure thing to write him off just yet. Timing sure is interesting.

Anyone would be foolish to think LSU wasn't going to go all out in keeping him in-state.

 

[TerryP]

[h=1]Hunter Paniagua[/h] [h=2]<img alt="" src="https://ih0.redbubble.net/image.567420689.0744/pp,650x642-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.u2.jpg" style="width: 75px; height: 100px;" />@</s>HunterPaniagua[/h] LSU Recruiting Analyst for Scout affiliate Tiger Sports Digest.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Here's what I've learned through this Hootie Jones saga. You don't want him coming to your school on an official visit</p>&mdash; Hunter Paniagua (@HunterPaniagua) <a href="https://twitter.com/HunterPaniagua/statuses/413424062208032768">December 18, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[alabama mike]

Hard to lose what you don't have, until the student signs on the dotted line, anything can happen. Hopefully, he will reconsider but if he doesn't, we move on and sign someone that wants to be a part of Alabama.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Bama Losses Another Recruit

Sucks. I liked what I saw from him. That's what, 3 de-commits this month?

 

[PhillyGirl]

Bama Losses Another Recruit

Wasn't he just on campus recently too?

 

[FlaBama]

$omething fis$hey going on perhaps$?

 

[JoshB]

I think he was one of the recruits that was in T-Town this past weekend.

 

[bamaraider]

Damn

 

[UAgrad93]

Terry, have you read some chatter about LSU may not have any room for him? I read it somewhere on Twitter but don't have any links.

 

[TerryP]

Terry, have you read some chatter about LSU may not have any room for him? I read it somewhere on Twitter but don't have any links.

They have a football program?

Click on the attached image to enlarge:

 

[TerryP]

Terry, have you read some chatter about LSU may not have any room for him? I read it somewhere on Twitter but don't have any links.

In all seriousness...

The last time I looked they had 10 spots open for the 2014 class and they've had at least one verbal since then: an OLB. So, at least eight/nine spots left. (No back-counter room available.)

 

[TerryP]

After this news broke yesterday I saw four, maybe five, threads from different Bama fans around the 'net talking about Hootie's physicality: IE: need to improve pursuit, hitting, etc.

Now, when I saw these strings I wondered how much of this was part of the "slow and lazy" reactionary posts. So, I decided to do a little background research to see if similar things were said from other fan bases.

Interestingly enough, I found the same tone coming from guys who cover recruiting for LSU. Both Bama fans and LSU writers claimed these observations came from watching him in person; not based on what they'd been told.

In the end, it's recruiting. Take what you believe, what you're told, combine it was what you've put together reading, mix it together for a few minutes and lay it out.

You'll find, as evidenced by this story (along with many others,) the final dish on these kids is, "it's recruiting."

---

And yes, I just amused myself with the double entendre.

 

[UAgrad93]

I'd read that LSU was liking another kid at safety and had actually backed off Hootie. So that goes along with what you posted. Maybe he is a little softer and maybe his "official" visit he was told that he would have to toughen up and it hurt his feelings.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Should we be concerned? That's 3 decommits in the past 3 weeks.

 

[JoshB]

Hampton commits to Ole Miss again...

 

[PhillyGirl]

Hampton commits to Ole Miss again...

Are we concerned yet? Lol

 

[rick4bama]

Are we concerned yet? Lol

Yes, we should be concerned. If we don't get them that OK because, we only need the ones that want to play for Bama. We don't need someone to come here then leave because he really wanted to play for that other team.