The No. 1 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite rankings is once again an uncommitted prospect, as 5-star defensive end Korey Foreman backed off his pledge to Clemson.

This is significant for a number of reasons. Foreman becomes Clemson’s first de-commitment since the 2017 cycle and the first since former Georgia Bulldog Juwuan Briscoe in the 2015 cycle to back-off his pledge and not pick Clemson for non-academic reasons.

Foreman is also the first No. 1 overall recruit to make a de-commitment since Robert Nkemdiche did it as a member of the 2013 class. He also backed off his pledge to Clemson and ended up at Ole Miss.

While Foreman’s de-commitment is big news for a number of reasons, it serves as yet another reminded that even the best programs suffer de-commitments from prized recruits.

Those who follow Georgia can attest to that and can look back at the 2019 class as such. The Bulldogs weren’t even a year removed from playing for the national title, yet they saw 5-star wide receiver Jadon Haselwood and 5-star running back John Emery Jr. de-commit in the same month.

Georgia, like Clemson undoubtedly will, recovered though. The Bulldogs landed 5-star wide receiver George Pickens and 4-star running back Kenny McIntosh following those de-commitments. Pickens actually went on to have statistically superior season to Haselwood, while McIntosh and Emery both served as back-up running backs.

As LSU was in the midst of a record-breaking and ultimately national championship season, it saw 5-star wide receiver Rakim Jarrett and 4-star wide receiver Jermaine Burton flip to other schools during the Early Signing Period in 2020. LSU still went on to sign a top-5 class and figures to be just fine heading into the future.

Part of the reason for Foreman’s de-commitment stems from the fact that he wants to take visits elsewhere. Once you’re a committed Clemson prospect, you’re no longer allowed to take visits elsewhere. If a prospect would like to do so, they must de-commit from the school.

This de-commitment though doesn’t put Clemson out of it. In the 2016class, linebacker Shaq Smith backed off his pledge to Clemson to look around. But Clemson still ended up landing Smith’s signature. It will certainly continue to pursue and try and land Foreman’s commitment.

But now, Foreman comes back on the open market for the likes of USC, Oregon, Ohio State, Alabama and yes Georgia. Prior to his commitment to Clemson, Georgia had impressed Foreman.

Foreman spoke highly of Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith when he talked with DawgNation’s Jeff Sentell.

And 2020 Georgia signee Tate Ratledge, who matched up against Foreman at the 2019 Opening, had some strong praise for how good of a player Foreman already is.

“If he’s not the top player in his class after this then I don’t know who could be,” Ratledge said. “Good night.”

The biggest threat for Foreman appears to be USC, given he’s from just outside of Los Angeles and has a strong with USC defensive end Drake Jackson. Foreman also can’t take any visits at the moment due to the dead period, in place by the NCAA until at least May 31.

Sentell dug into the number of de-commitments schools have had dating back to the 2010 recruiting cycle. Georgia has 51. Alabama has had 58. Ohio State just 30 and Clemson with only 11. USC, with all its coaching instability over the past decade, has had only 47 de-commitments. Florida meanwhile has had 91 in that time period.

Even the best programs can have de-commitments. As much Clemson as tries to brace itself for these situations, Foreman shows it still happens. Some might say the Foreman de-commitment is why you should try and recruit locally. But Haselwood was from Atlanta and he ended up at Oklahoma. Of the 33 de-commitments that Georgia has had since the 2016 class — Smart’s first at Georgia — 16 of the de-commitments have actually come from the state of Georgia.

Clemson is still very well positioned to both sign an elite class and even land Foreman once again. The Tigers have the No. 4 ranked class following his de-commitments and figure to bring in a slew of talented players. Foreman just may no longer be one of them, just as Haselwood and Emery Jr. weren’t at Georgia when the Bulldogs went on to sign the No. 2 class in the 2019 cycle.

At the beginning of our story, we mentioned how Nkemdiche backed off his pledge to be a member of Clemson’s 2013 signing class. He went on to still become a first-round draft pick but has struggled at the NFL level.

Clemson’s 2013 class, without him, went on to make up the backbone of the team that won the national championship in 2016.

Clemson and Dabo Swinney’s program won’t come undone over this one decision. Even Thor made Thanos bleed in Avengers: Infinity Wars. But we all know how that movie ended.

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