USF lost the top quarterback in its upcoming recruiting class Friday when Wharton’s Chase Litton announced he was going to explore other options.
“I want to apologize to USF but I will be decommitting and opening up my recruitment up for my senior year,” Litton said on his Twitter account Friday evening.
Litton’s announcement came as he was reportedly in Gainesville at the University of Florida’s Friday Night Lights event.
The loss of Litton could slow some of the momentum new USF head coach Willie Taggart had built on the recruiting trail in recent months, including recent commitments from local standouts such as Tajee Fullwood (Tampa Bay Tech), Devin Abraham (East Lake) and Juwuan Brown and Deiondre Porter (Jefferson)
But several recruits reaffirmed their commitment Friday after learning of Litton’s decommitment.
“Somebody may have decommitted but me? Imma Bull For Life #BullNation #DreamTeam #DoSomething,” Fullwood tweeted.
Either way, it means at least two years in a row when the Bulls have lost their top quarterback commitment. Winter Park’s Asiantii Woulard decommitted last December and later signed with UCLA.
The 6-foot-6 Litton, who announced his commitment last month on television, had spoken recently of embracing a role as an unofficial recruiter for USF. A recent story on recruiting website 247’s South Florida page carried this headline from a day ago: “QB commit Chase Litton is helping build USF’s 2014 class.”
Not anymore.As a junior, Litton completed 58 percent of his passes for an area-leading 2,732 yards and 23 touchdowns with 10 interceptions for the Wildcats. He was also the top quarterback this summer for Team Tampa’s 7-on-7 team, which won its second-straight national championship.
Litton also held scholarship offers from LSU, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Marshall, Western Kentucky, Western Michigan and Samford.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Litton held other scholarship offers or was looking forward to receiving another one.