Michigan State Football: Impact of 3-star CB Gabe Nealy’s decommitment

Gabe Nealy was the glue that held Michigan State football’s 2021 recruiting class together, but he’s moving on after a decommitment.

When Gabe Nealy committed to Michigan State back in April, he was one of the Spartans’ first verbal pledges in the 2021 recruiting class.

What he did next won fans over immediately.

Nealy took to social media and not only promised more commitments with Marcus Peters’ “we ain’t done yet” video but he spoke of big-time goals such as Big Ten titles and national championships. He promised he was “1,000 percent committed” but everything took a turn last week.

Out of the blue, the three-star safety from Florida changed his profile from all-MSU to nothing. He took “MSU commit” out of his bio and even changed his picture and unpinned his commitment tweet. It was a dead giveaway that he was on his way to a decommitment.

Then that became official on Monday.

https://twitter.com/GabeNealy1/status/1265089433721884672?s=20

It was a surprise to those who didn’t think that the verbal captain of the class would ever reopen his recruitment, let alone days after tweeting that he has a vision for Michigan State and can’t wait to prove people wrong.

What this means for Michigan State football

While the door on the Nealy era is likely completely shut, that doesn’t mean Michigan State will be short on defensive backs. The Spartans had a few already committed and that may have driven the three-star from Miami away.

There’s talk that his decommitment may have stemmed from a miscommunication from the staff regarding how many defensive backs they were planning on taking.

That may be possible, but you also have to keep in mind he never visited campus and could have gotten the idea in his head that he committed too early. There’s always time to enjoy the process and maybe listening to other schools wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Mel Tucker will find a replacement for Nealy and the class will move on, but losing a potential future vocal leader like him hurts. This decommitment won’t break the class, though.

Expect Tucker to really focus on adding another cornerback or two this summer and a couple of names to keep an eye on are Andrew Mukuba and Jah’von Grigsby.