:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/44343270/usa-today-8129314.0.jpg)
In the latest reminder that verbal commitments are worth about as much as their actual weight, defensive end DeVante Wilson flipped from WSU to Cal on Sunday. He had been committed to WSU for a week as part of the trio from Riverside (Calif.) Community College.
Why the sudden change of heart? Wilson took an official visit to Cal, and that apparently was enough to sway him. Also:
Wilson also visited Washington in the middle of last week, and told Scout.com that he felt he "probably committed a little too early just because I wanted to make sure I had a place to play."
That's actually not that unusual and is part of the reason why you see kids flipping this time of year. Kid locks in a spot to make sure he doesn't get left out when the music stops playing, keeps looking around, eventually gets the offer he wants or has his eyes opened to something he didn't even know he wanted, flips.
There also were some personal reasons involved.
"Cal is a lot closer to home and that's big because I have a 2 week old baby girl," Wilson told Greg Biggins of Scout.com. "Her and her mother are coming up and staying with me and being able to drive home when we want or even take a 50 minute flight is a lot easier than flying back and forth from Washington."
More WSU Recruiting
Quick personal story: I thought my whole life I wanted to go to the University of Washington. Then I visited WSU and discovered it was everything I didn't even know I wanted. Sounds like that's what happened here to a certain degree, so I'm not going to cry about a kid who obviously feels more comfortable in a different situation. At least he changed early and didn't drag the process out, holding a spot at WSU that was tenuous. Now the staff can focus its attention elsewhere.
The decommitment leaves WSU with two defensive ends in the 2015 class: Wilson's less-regarded teammate, two-star Jeremiah Mitchell, and three-star Hunter Mattox, who flipped from OSU to WSU over the weekend. The only other defensive lineman in the class is four-star tackle Thomas Toki.