'10 FL S Matt Elam (Florida Verbal)

[cjs100]

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/recruiting/orl-recruiting-top10-in-nation-08242009,0,3580330.story

8) Matt Elam (safety, West Palm Beach) The buzz: The lone commitment in Rivals heralded Top 10 announced for Florida last fall. He had 21 tackles for loss and nine sacks last season, and there's a debate among some scouts whether he's projects best at linebacker or safety. There's no debate he should be a great player, though, and that his early commitment laid the groundwork for another jaw-dropping class in '10 for the Gators.

[cjs100]

Matt Elam -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

INTERESTED COLLEGES: Committed to Florida midway through his junior season. "I have a great relationship with Coach [Urban Meyer] and it took all the pressure off of me for my senior season to commit early," Elam explains on his decision.

cont...

[wadc45]

One article said Elam was coming to Columbus this weekend but this says something different (not that either of these visits are anything more than token visits):

College Football Recruiting On the Trail 2010 - ESPN

Gators commit Matt Elam to visit the Mountaineers this weekend
ESPNU 150 athlete Matt Elam (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer) will travel to Morgantown, W.V. with Mountaineers pledge and high school teammate Robert Clark this weekend, ESPN affiliate Web site EerSports.com reports.

Clark said Elam will give West Virginia a shot, "Yeah, he's coming up. He already got his tickets and stuff. We both are coming up. He's just keeping his options open. He wants to see what the other schools are all about."

Elam commented on the situation, "I just want to see basically what?s there. I like that they run a 3-3-5 defense. They play with a lot of safeties."

Clark is also considering other programs and could take visits to Louisville, Kentucky, South Florida and Wisconsin.

[cjs100]

EerSports.com: Elam Re-Thinking Gator Commitment after WVU Visit?

Elam, a 6-foot, 205-pound athlete from Dwyer High School (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.), is not necessarily revoking his verbal commitment to the Gators, but has narrowed his decision down to both Florida and WVU.

cont...

[gefootball10]

Originally Posted by cjs100

EerSports.com: Elam Re-Thinking Gator Commitment after WVU Visit?

i thought he was one of the florida kids up at the shoe this weekend not wvu.. but i'm probably wrong

[Gatorubet]

“He told me they have great coaches and they will take care of you -- they’ll love you and things like that.”

[cjs100]

Originally Posted by gefootball10

i thought he was one of the florida kids up at the shoe this weekend not wvu.. but i'm probably wrong

There was report indicating he'd be at Ohio State as well as one saying he'd be at WVU. Apparently the WVU report was correct.

[Gatorubet]

Originally Posted by cjs100

There was report indicating he'd be at Ohio State as well as one saying he'd be at WVU. Apparently the WVU report was correct.

These kids want to play, and with 32 of 33 Gator defensive players back from last year's three deep (not counting this year's incoming freshmen), his chance of getting on the field is far, far better at WVU.

I'd hate to see it, but it is very understandable.

[cjs100]

Anyone know anything about poster AveMaria on FVSports? In his post linked below, he states Matt Elam will back out of his commitment to Florida. Speculation in the followup postings are that the most likely alternate destination would be West Virginia. I'm just curious if anyone from the BPRT has heard anything similar. With his brother playing for the Browns, I was hoping Ohio State might have a shot.

Matthew Elam - FVSports Forums

[bigdog3300]

WVU is in very, very good shape right now.

[cjs100]

Orlando Sentinel (free)

Is Matt Elam leaning WVU instead of Gators now?
Elam leaning to WVU now?
September 23, 2009

Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer RB/S Matt Elam, the No. 13-ranked player in the country according to Rivals.com and the fifth-ranked player in the Sentinel's Florida Top 100, made what appeared to be an innocent visit to West Virginia two weeks ago. The Florida commitment, however, left Morgantown with different thoughts, according to what he told EerSports.com.

"I just want to take some time and think about it," Elam said. "I just want to see how things shake out in Florida. I'm going to sit some and wait. The way [the Mountaineers] use their safeties, it fits me."

Elam was back on the Florida campus last weekend for the Tennessee game and his mother Addie Elam-Lewis said he is still a solid UF commitment.

[wadc45]

Could this be why Florida offered Riley?

College Football Recruiting On the Trail 2010 - ESPN

Matt Elam favoring the Moutaineers
ESPNU 150 athlete Matt Elam (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer), a Florida commitment, informed ESPN affiliate Web site EerSports.com that he would sign with West Virginia if he had to decision right now.

Elam also recently took an official visit to Tennessee to find the Volunteers offering early playing opportunity.

He will also visit Florida State and could make a trip to South Florida.

[Redhawk]

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/recrui...ecruitId=69371

It now appears that four-star Matt Elam (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla./Dwyer) will uphold his commitment to Florida, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Elam, who recently visited Tennessee stated that he was favoring West Virginia, had a two-hour conversation with Urban Meyer and is now finished making visits and considering other programs.

He was concerned about the number of safeties committed for the Class of 2010, "I talked to (Meyer) a little. We talked about the safety situation and our relationship. I committed for a reason. I'm not going to back down. It's all Florida."

[bigdog3300]

I have some very interesting news on Matt from one of the best FL guys I know. Which is interesting, because I've heard strong rumblings on this since the OSU/USC game when he wanted to visit, and almost did. Here's what he told me.....

"OK, here's what I get.

I'm sure you know Matt is originally from Ohio, has family there, and of course Abram plays for the Browns. There were some pretty strong rumors over the summer that Matt was seriously contemplating moving to Ohio to live with Abram for his SR year, but obviously it didn't happen.

Anyway, I was told long beforehand that Matt would take his visits for the "perks", but we had absolutely nothing to worry about unless he visited Ohio State or Georgia as those are the only real threats to us. So he carefully chose his OVs and purposefully left off OSU and UGa so our staff wouldn't squirm. I was told time and time again that all the WVU/UT stuff was bogus and he had to play up other schools in order to be allowed on other schools' campuses. That's why I've had a nonchalant attitude about this all and posted OSU and UGa in my percantages in the Elam Betting Odds thread when no one else did and didn't include WVU or UT.

So today I find out Elam's "parents" want him to take 2 more OVs: FSU and, yep...Ohio State. He's in the process of setting these up now, and for the first time during his recruitment, I'm starting to sweat a little."

The groundwork for the visit seems to have been set awhile ago. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

[BigJim]

That should be in the rumor mill, but regardless, good stuff. Thanks.