Florida football recruiting: CB Clinton Burton Jr. decommits, flips to Boston College

Clinton Burton Jr. entered Friday as one of the longest-tenured commits in the Florida Gators 2021 recruiting class.

He left it as a Boston College Eagles player to be.

Burton, a top-200 cornerback, flipped his commitment from the Gators to the Eagles on Friday, announcing his decision by posting a video to his Twitter account.

Burton had committed to Florida in September 2019, but the prospective distance from home — he hails from Baltimore, and attends its St. Frances Academy — was always likely to be a factor Florida was working against in his recruitment. And the familiarity with that home turf possessed by Boston College defensive backs coach Aazaar Abdul-Rahim, a native of the so-called “DMV” area that encompasses the nexus of Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, is doubtlessly a part of his flip to a typically back-of-the-pack ACC program from Florida’s seemingly resurgent powerhouse.

But Burton’s decommitment is a blow to Florida’s defensive back recruiting in the 2021 cycle. And while the Gators still have their sights set on persuading the tandem of Palmetto High stars Jason Marshall and Corey Collier and may get good news from Pennsylvania safety Donovan McMillon this evening, they are currently heavier on safeties than corners, and could be looking at moving players around or a full-on expansion of the board at cornerback if they fail to sway that South Florida duo.

Burton’s decommitment slides Florida’s 2021 class — now 19 players strong — down to No. 10 nationally in the 247Composite rankings.

If you’re upset at all about anything related to recruiting in a pandemic, I point you again to a post written in May about recruiting in a pandemic.