RECRUITING: D’Angelo McCray to announce soon

The recruiting saga of five-star defensive lineman D’Angelo McCray may be coming to an end very shortly. Once committed publicly to the Florida Gators, McCray backed off of his commitment so he could take some trips to see other schools. He visited a couple and made an official visit to Illinois this season. McCray has a new top five with one huge team left off the list.

McCray had a big game Friday night when his Jacksonville Jackson team upended Raines 31-6. McCray had five tackles, two sacks, a fumble recovery, and a catch for 17 yards on the night. The soon to be business major is about to get all business with recruiting as he thinks his final decision will come some time soon. Right now, he has a definitive top five list.

“My top five in order are Florida, Illinois, Ole Miss, Louisville, and Georgia Tech,” he said Sunday evening. Here’s his thoughts on each team:

Georgia Tech: “I watched them last night and they have the right defense, but they weren’t making the tackles. If they made a couple it would have been a close game. When they get off the ball, they play pretty well.”

Louisville: “I didn’t make my trip there because I had a test on the day that I was leaving. I think they have a pretty good team they are winning. My home boy plays there with them.”

Ole Miss: “They are young and have all their players returning except one linebacker. They seem like they will be good in a while too.”

Illinois: “Some people think I am crazy, but in a year or two they will be good. They play a lot of freshmen. They are losing but not by much and they have everyone returning next year. They definitely are willing to play freshmen.”

Florida: “They are doing well right now, they lost a close game to Auburn, but other than that they are doing well. I always liked them. I just went to a few places to make sure I was making the right decision.”

He also cannot look past the opportunity for early playing time at Florida. “At a big time school like that, the opportunity to play is just huge,” he said.

Conspicuously missing from his top five list is his childhood favorite, Florida State. I made it clear that this wasn’t going to be a hatchet job on the Noles, but readers are going to want to know why they aren’t in his final five.

McCray was supposed to visit for this weekend’s game against Boston College in which the Noles lost at home. He was too tired from his own game the night before to make that journey.

“I am looking at them, but they are not up there at the top,” McCray said. “It just seems like their program is going down every year.”

He doesn’t anticipate the final decision to be too much longer. McCray will of course do it in style, but it may come in the next couple of weeks.

“The decision is coming soon,” he said. “I am figuring out when exactly to do it.”