4-star running back Jamious Griffin decommits from NC State

NC State lost one of the highest-ranked members of its 2019 recruiting class when running back Jamious Griffin announced via Twitter on Monday that he’s decommitting from the Wolfpack. It’s a tough loss for Dave Doeren, but not a particularly shocking one.

His decommitment felt inevitable after he opted not to sign a letter of intent with NC State during the December signing period. These days, the kids who have their minds made up aren’t waiting around until February.

And Griffin is one of those guys who saw his stock take a huge jump during his senior season, bringing attention from power-conference schools that wasn’t there when he committed to the Pack last spring. He wasn’t even a four-star prospect at that point.

Alas, them’s the breaks in football recruiting. Getting in early on a kid helps, but hanging on to him becomes a challenge for the NC States of the college football universe when bigger-name programs become serious. He turned a lot of heads during the fall—rushing for over 2,800 yards will tend to do that.

Griffin most recently visited Auburn, and he also seems to have a strong connection to the new coaching staff at Georgia Tech. Griffin is a Georgia native, and if he ends up opting to stay home, that won’t come as a surprise.

We can hope that State remains seriously in the mix here, but a decommitment in football recruiting is almost always a permanent end to the relationship.