Shane Huber, a New Jersey linebacker who committed to UMass back in July, has decommitted and will open up his recruitment.
Scout’s Brian Dohn broke the news on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BrianDohnScout/status/285515568117858304
Rivals’ Matt Hladik also tweeted about Huber’s decision.
https://twitter.com/MattHladik919/status/285512059456741378
Huber was high on UMass early, and was one of the first recruits to publicly praise Charley Molnar and his staff. Back then he had offers from Navy, Temple, UCF and Buffalo. Rivals has the same schools interested. 247 Sports and Scout have the same. This is just speculation, but I’m guessing Rutgers is getting involved after Huber’s impressive senior year, which culminated in a Chesapeake Bowl invitation.
With Huber’s decommitment, the remaining 2013 linebacker committed is Steve Casali. Catholic Memorial standout Peter Ngobidi is a tweener, and it’s unclear whether he will play linebacker of defensive end at the next level.
Huber is the second athlete to decommit from UMass. Back in August, Sha’ki Holines, a linebacker that committed the same weekend as Casali, decommitted to verbal at UConn.
Here is the updated list of recruits who remain verbally committed:
-
Cole Ormsby, DE: Windsor HS (Conn)
- Todd Stafford, QB: Greenwich HS (Conn)
- Steve Casali, LB/RB: Sachem East HS (N.Y.)
- Richard Queen, OL: Bergen Catholic HC (N.J.)
- Sam Zeff, OL: Montclair High School (N.J.)
- Jordan Page, OL: The Pennington School (N.J)
- Terrel Correia, DE/OL: Nantucket High School (Mass)
- D.J. Woods, WR: University School (Fla.)
- Tyshon Henderson, OL: St. George’s School (R.I.)
- Peter Ngobidi, LB/DE: Catholic Memorial High School (Mass)
- Enock Asante, OL/DT: Steinert High School (N.J)
- Daquan Mack, HB/FB: Pennsbury High School (Pa.)
- Nate Crutchfield, QB: Montclair High School (N.J) - preferred walk-on
- Klysmann Afonso, WR: Jireh Prep (N.C.) - walk-on
- Jackson Porter, DB: Mt. Hebron High School (Md.)
- Sharif Custis, TE: St John Neumann (Pa)
- Julian Taylor, TE/DE: Williamstown High School (N.J.)
- Brandon Peoples, RB: Milford Academy (N.Y.)/Archbishop Wood High School (Pa.)
- Josh Bruns, OL: Glendale Community College (Ariz)
- Garrett FitzGerald, OL: Catholic Memorial High School (Mass.)/Saint Anslem College (N.H.) - preferred walk-on
Fingers crossed we can still land this kid. Can’t hate on him for seeing what else is out there, but Coach needs to close this deal. Kid goes downhill towards the ball carrier.
We have some excellent young LBs. What we need are DEs and interior lineman. The whole verbal process is laughable. Get young men on campus who are excited about the prospect of playing for a program that has yet to be defined. Seems to me Mr. Huber would have played immediately. This would not be the case at most if not all other schools.
A parting thought..
Do we have a PR arm in the Athletic Department? I don’t mean an SID? I mean a real media savvy coordinator/director type? If we don’t ..we need one.. TODAY! There is no reason there isn’t a response to any of the BG or NYT articles..and we need other “interest” stories our there about the program, the team ..not just the standard preseason stuff.
Sorry venting.
Good luck to him..we should wish him the best! No need to hate on the kid. He blew up ..others have expressed interest.. would any of us done something different ..at 17-18 y.o.? I seriously doubt it.
Our expectations of the decision process of a 17-18 y.o. need a reality check. It was a verbal. He didn’t sign an LOI, he didn’t break a contract. Which as we know in CFB the concept of a contract is an absolute joke to begin with ..conference realignment, coach movement et al.
That being said. It’s a blow. The damage, too soon to tell..
I like the tweet above from Mack. It mentions a WR who says he coming to UMass. He seems fired up. I am sure he knows Huber bailed..he is taking charge of his peers. That I like. That will go a long way for this class..for UMass.
Per the WR, check the MM in about 2 minutes.
Kids de-commit all the time, it’s unfortunate but we’ll be alright. I’m more concerned with the lack of comment by our AD re: recent attacks by the BC Globe, sorry I meant Boston Globe and it’s parent company the NY Times.
This has got to be a serious blow to Coach Molnar and his staff! He may have been the best commit of the bunch until now.
If the kid is a good player I’d welcome him back with open arms, but if Rutgers is calling its hard to blame the him for wanting the Big 10. Can’t wait till signing day and decommits aren’t issue.
Agreed, he is a waffler,who probably will listen to other people his whole life. Commitment in life is a good thing, sounds like he has a career better suited for politics. also, it does not help, when the Boston Globe does a hatchet job on UMASS,followed up by the NYT,follow up by our new chancellor who should keep his mouth shut, as he helps the naysayers who say UMASS is not commited for the long haul. With fools like him, it makes it tough.
Good. I don’t want somebody that can’t make a decision and stick with it to play for the team.
Bottom line if he’s not 100% commited we don’t want him.
A little harsh, don’t ya think? What if it was the other way around? Would you root against him b/c he decomitted from X school and chose Umass? Verbals in football mean nothing. The real recruiting starts now until signing day. Umass will loose some and gain some. This is a good thing for Umass. The fact that other big time schools (we think) are sniffing around shows that this staff is able to identify talent early. Maybe Shane will still sign. We are always going to lose kids to ND or FSU.. and now with Rutgers in the B10 and Pitt in the ACC