Davonte' Neal of Scottsdale Chaparral is one of the top unsigned players in the country. Photo by David Wallace/The Arizona Republic
The rush to report recruiting gossip is unnecessarily breathless, which resulted in a Twitter-storm of conflicting information Wednesday about Davonte’ Neal.
Neal, the star receiver from Scottsdale Chaparral High School, is in no hurry to sign a letter of intent. He’ll sign when he signs. Whenever he’s ready. We’ll probably all find out at the same time.
Arizona fans are caught up in all the drama because the Wildcats are one of five or six schools — depending on who you believe — still in the running for the player ranked as high as eighth nationally by ESPNU.
But, at this point, you don’t know what to believe.
On Wednesday afternoon, ESPN.com recruiting analyst Jamie Newberg tweeted that Neal’s father, Luke Neal, told him that his son would take an official visit to Arizona this weekend.
Then, Richard Obert of the Arizona Republic tweeted that Neal’s father told him there was NOT an official visit to Arizona this weekend.
Then, Mike Farrell of Rivals.com sent out this note via Twitter: “I don’t have the reason why #OhioState won’t be taking Davonte Neal, I just know he tried to commit and couldn’t. Well sourced.”
Obert responded with a Tweet that said Luke Neal the family hadn’t talked to Ohio State coach Urban Meyer and knew nothing about the report that the Buckeyes wouldn’t take his son.
Finally, Obert posted a story on his blog late Wednesday night headlined “Neal’s father miffed by reports.” Here is that story from azcentral.com, one of our Gannett partners:
Luke Neal, father of highly recruited Scottsdale Chaparral receiver/cornerback Davonte’ Neal, was miffed Wednesday night by a tweet that said his son tried to commit to Ohio State but was denied.
The elder Neal, who has been handling his son’s recruiting throughout the process, said Davonte’ did not try to commit to Ohio State and he had not heard that Ohio State was no longer saving a football scholarship for his son.
During an in-home visit from Ohio State coach Urban Meyer last week, Luke Neal said he told Meyer that his son was going to take this week to go over the colleges recruiting him before making a decision. At the time, Luke said Meyer would honor his wish and would not contact him during the week, but added a scholarship would be available for him if he decided to go there.
Luke said he had not heard from Meyer on Wednesday nor did he try to contact Meyer, after Rivals.com national recruiting analyst Mike Farrell tweeted: “I don’t have the reason why #OhioState won’t be taking Davonte Neal, I just know he tried to commit and couldn’t. Well sourced. #RivalsNSD
As for taking an official trip to Arizona, Neal said if it happens, it would be the weekend of Feb. 10, not this weekend, and that it’s still up in the air on whether it will be UA or Oklahoma, which became a serious contender last week for the 5-foot-10, 175-pounder who was the Gatorade Arizona Football Player of the Year each of the past two seasons.
Neal has taken official visits to Notre Dame, Ohio State, Arkansas and North Carolina. He hasn’t publicly eliminated any school. If he uses his fifth official visit to go to Oklahoma, he’ll take an unofficial (unpaid) trip to Arizona.
And he’ll decide when he decides.