Breck WR Bryce McNeal de-commits from Michigan Football Recruiting

Breck WR Bryce McNeal de-commits from Michigan Football Recruiting

by Nadine Babu October 13, 2008

A lot of things have changed since last May when Bryce McNeal committed to the University of Michigan: The economy, gas prices, the stock market, presidential candidates, and Bryce McNeal himself. The stand-out wide receiver from Breck High School called GopherHole to let Gopher Nation know that he contacted Wolverine wide receiver coach Tony Dews tonight to officially de-commit from Michigan. This is a first in a two part interview with McNeal, where he tells GopherHole why he decided to open up his options again. Part two of the interview will be posted later this week and will include what his thoughts are on his other top four schools, Minnesota, Florida, Colorado, and California, and what his next steps will be.


BM: I de-committed from Michigan tonight.

GH: You did?
BM: Yes, I knew I was going to do it, and I wanted to make sure you got it first.

GH: Have you told the coaches?
BM: Yes, I talked to Coach Dews, the wide receivers coach tonight.

GH: Why did you de-commit?
BM: I just feel that I ended the (recruiting) process early and there are other schools out there that I didn’t give a chance to. After taking all of my visits, I’ll need to write down the pros and cons of each school and find which one fits me best as a person, and as an athlete. I just feel like I really did give other schools a chance when I committed early.

GH: Has your relationship with Coach Rodriguez change at all?
BM: No, my relationships with Coach Rodriguez and Coach Dews are the same as when they started to recruit me, I don’t have any different views of them, and I hope they don’t have any different views of me.

GH: So they didn’t recruit over you or anything like that?
BM: No, not at all.

GH: Is Michigan still going to be one of the schools you are considering?
BM: I am still interested in Michigan and am keeping them in the mix, I just am not committed to them anymore. They are still in my top 5 schools.

GH: Has their performance this year affected your decision? Obviously losing to Toledo this week was not one of their high points.
BM: No, not really. I kind of figured they would have a down season, but that’s not something that really went into my decision making process when I de-committed. It doesn’t really have anything to do with their wins or losses, just more me as a person.

GH: Have you gotten a lot of heat since you started wavering in your commitment?
BM: Not really. The only people that I’ve really taken heat from are random people on the street, like people posting things on my Facebook and my Myspace. They don’t know what goes on in my life. I’m doing what I have to do for me, they’re just on the outside looking in, they can say what they want.

GH: What will make people believe, when you commit going forward, that you won’t change your mind again?
BM: Hopefully because I’m an upfront person. For one thing, I’m taking my time, I’m not going to commit to anyone anytime soon. I’m going to take all my visits, and I’m probably going to wait until January to commit, or let them know right before signing day what school I’m going to be attending. It’s going to be impossible for me to back out.

GH: When you and I spoke last April about committing to Michigan, off the record, you told me you were always planning on taking your visits. Is this something you were upfront with Michigan about?
BM: At first I thought I would not take them, then I felt that I really needed to and I brought it back up. It didn’t cause conflict, it just caused a lot of questioning. I kind of felt like there were some gaps missing, and I had to fill them.