Collins Hill High School wide receiver Travis Hunter (12) watches warm-ups earlier the Class 7A rubric precocious schoolhouse shot crippled against Milton astatine Georgia State Center Parc Stadium, connected Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021, successful Atlanta. Hunter, the No. 1 precocious schoolhouse shot enlistee successful the country, pulled a signing time shocker Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2021, deciding to be Jackson State and play for manager Deion Sanders aft being verbally committed to Florida State for months. (Jason Getz/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
The No. 1 precocious schoolhouse shot enlistee successful the state pulled a signing time shocker Wednesday, deciding to be Jackson State and play for manager Deion Sanders aft being verbally committed to Florida State for months.
Travis Hunter, a cornerback from Suwanee, Georgia, made the unprecedented announcement during a ceremonial astatine Collins Hill High School. Hunter was the apical imaginable successful the state successful 247 Sports’ composite rankings, which instrumentality into relationship its ain ratings positive those of different large recruiting websites.
Sanders is simply a erstwhile Florida State prima and Pro Football Hall of Famer who is successful his 2nd twelvemonth coaching Jackson State, a historically achromatic assemblage successful Jackson, Mississippi.
At his signing ceremony, Hunter had 3 shot caps connected the array successful beforehand of him arsenic helium prepared to marque his announcement: Florida State, Auburn and Georgia.
He tossed them disconnected the signifier one-by-one and unzipped his sweatshirt to uncover a T-shirt that work Believe. He past caught a Jackson State cap — with a acheronian bluish J connected a achromatic inheritance — that was tossed to him from the assemblage and enactment that on.
“I got a 1 successful beingness accidental to play for 1 of the greats,” Hunter told WXIA-TV successful Atlanta aft making his announcement. “I got a accidental to marque a alteration successful history.”
Since the valuation and standing of precocious schoolhouse recruits started to instrumentality disconnected successful the precocious 1990s and aboriginal 2000s, nary subordinate arsenic highly regarded arsenic Hunter has ever signed a assistance retired of precocious schoolhouse with an HBCU specified arsenic Jackson State.
Top 100 players seldom motion extracurricular the accepted assemblage shot powerfulness programs that play successful the strongest conferences specified arsenic the Southeastern Conference and Big Ten.
Jackson State competes astatine a level respective rungs beneath those conferences successful the 2nd tier of NCAA Division I football, the Championship Subdivision. Schools similar Jackson State seldom if ever motion three-star players. Hunter is 1 of respective twelve five-star prospects successful the 2022 recruiting class.
A longtime subordinate of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Jackson State won its archetypal SWAC rubric since 2007 past month.
‘We’re going to daze the country,” Sanders said Tuesday, the eve of the opening of the aboriginal signing period, connected Barstool Sports’ “Unnecessary Roughness” podcast. Sanders has his ain podcast connected Barstool, “21st and Prime,” and is simply a regular contributor to the company’s astir fashionable show, “Pardon My Take.”
Hunter had been expected to motion with Florida State arsenic assemblage football’s aboriginal signing play opened connected Wednesday. He had fixed a non-binding verbal committedness to FSU successful March and was considered the centerpiece of what the Seminoles hoped to beryllium a recruiting people that would crook astir the fortunes of a struggling superpower.
Florida State has won 3 nationalist championships, astir precocious successful 2013, but the programme has fallen connected hard times recently, with 4 consecutive losing seasons nether 2 coaches.
“We’ve had 14 large young men that person joined our programme today,” Florida State manager Mike Norvell told reporters astatine his signing time quality conference. “That’s going to beryllium our focus.”
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