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Bad news for the Michigan State Spartans, as 2021 three-star cornerback Gabe Nealy announced his decision last night to de-commit from the MSU football program.
I would like to Thank Coach Tucker and the MSU coaching staff for giving me the opportunity to live out my dream of playing Division I football, but at this time I will be de-committing from Michigan State University. NO LOVE LOST.
— Gabe “Spida” Nealy (@GabeNealy1) May 26, 2020
NO Interviews. Thank you.
Nealy’s decision is quite surprising. The 6-foot-4, 175-pound prospect out of Gulliver Prep (Miami, Florida), was one of the most vocal and enthusiastic commits in the 2021 class. Since originally committing to Michigan State in April, Nealy interacted with Spartans fans on social media on a daily basis, often exclaimed his love for Michigan State and its coaching staff, and quite frequently recruited fellow 2021 prospects to come to East Lansing. If any player seemed like a lock to stay the course, it was Nealy.
However, the writing was seemingly on the wall for this decision as of late, after Nealy unpinned his commitment tweet to MSU from his profile, changed his Twitter bio and started tweeting graphics from several different schools that were trying to court him. He also sent out several cryptic tweets that made it pretty clear he was no longer wanting to stay committed to the Spartans.
Spare me your feelings and opinions I gotta get to where I’m going...
— Gabe “Spida” Nealy (@GabeNealy1) May 25, 2020
Of course, recruiting is in such an odd time right now given campus closures due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nealy was never even able to visit Michigan State’s campus in-person, and he initially committed after a “virtual” visit. While there is a lot of mystery as to why Nealy had such a change of heart after being a poster child for MSU’s 2021 class, keep in mind this is a high school athlete, and this is a difficult time to leave home and go to college more than 1,400 miles from his hometown. While this hurts for the football program, and personally I would much rather have him on the team, please be respectful of the young man’s decision. There is, of course, still a chance he ends up in East Lansing, though.
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Nealy currently is listed as the No. 75 safety, No. 129 player in the state of Florida and No. 968 recruit overall in the nation.
With Nealy no longer in the fold, the 2021 class now stands at 12 players, counting preferred walk-on offensive lineman Logan Murray (Flint Powers Catholic).
We wish you all of the best, Gabe.