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Florida football recruiting: CB Marcus Lewis decommits from Gators

First Jalen Julius decommitted. Then the other corner in Florida's 2015 class did.

By Andy Hutchins
Student Sports

Maryland cornerback Marcus Lewis decommitted from Florida on Monday, breaking the news in a tweet:

Lewis committed to Florida in April, and appeared to be the third member of a DMW-to-Florida pipeline for defensive backs that began with Joe Haden and added a section with Jalen Tabor's flip this January. He was a stellar pickup for Florida back then, as a rangy corner with good ball skills, and his departure is a blow: He's the No. 123 player and No. 9 athlete in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2015 class, and was the second-best Florida commit (behind linebacker Jerome Baker) in that tool's estimation.

The decommitment isn't that surprising in a vacuum. Lewis visited Michigan over the weekend for the Wolverines' BBQ in the Big House event as Michigan pushed for him, had previously been linked to Miami, and announced a "top four" on Sunday through Rivals reporter Adam Friedman — who broke his commitment — before decommitting on Monday.

And, maybe most importantly, Lewis never transferred to IMG Academy in Bradenton, as he said he would at the time he committed, which many — including me — took as a sign that his commitment to Florida was less than set in stone.

With his announcement, Lewis became the second cornerback to decommit from the Gators in as many days, following Jalen Julius doing the same on Sunday, and Lewis leaving Florida's class was the fourth departure in just 10 days for the Gators.

Down to just seven commits for the 2015 class, Florida's class ranking has plummeted: The Gators are No. 49 in the eyes of 247Sports, having fallen 28 spots, and now sit between Pittsburgh and Arkansas State.

But even though Lewis's departure is the first of the four recent ones to hurt Florida's "average" — the average player rating for a class, as calculated by the 247Sports composite — the Gators are still among the top 10 in that category, slipping from various values just over 90.00 as of last week to 89.80 after Lewis cut himself loose. Florida is the only team in the top 50 of those rankings with fewer than eight commitments.

So, yes, the quantity of recruits has suffered for the Gators of late. The average quality, though, hasn't really changed all that much.