MORE MAKING THE CASE: Florida State or Maryland for Lance Legendre?
National Signing Day is right around the corner, with less than a week until the remaining unsigned top prospects sign their official letters-of-intent. With that in mind, several elite players have announced their final lists and are prepared for commitment announcements. One of those players is four-star Tennessee defensive back Adonis Otey, who will announce his decision next Wednesday.
Today, experts from the Rivals.com network examine where he will end up. The candidates are Arkansas and USC.
THE SITUATION
Otey has had quite a recruiting journey, initially committing to Tennessee as an underclassman, only to reverse course after it became clear that Butch Jones wasn’t long for the job in Knoxville. After that, Otey racked up offers from several major programs, including Florida State, Ohio State and many others. But his recruitment boiled down to two programs over the summer, when he made a surprise decision to commit to Arkansas over Auburn. After being locked in with the Hogs for months, Otey elected not sign early in December, instead preferring to opt for a traditional signing day ceremony. However, once Otey didn’t sign and was still on the market, a flood of new interest came in, including USC. After an official visit to Los Angeles, Otey is now weighing his options in advance of a final Signing Day decision.
So will it be the Hogs or the Trojans? We asked our team experts to state the case for their respective programs and let National Recruiting Analyst Adam Gorney issue a verdict.
ARKANSAS
“Despite committing to Arkansas at the 11th hour after a back and forth with Auburn, Adonis Otey has been very pro-Hog ever since. There are several factors that could keep Otey committed to coming to Arkansas. He has loved the time he's spent in Fayetteville. His high school teammate and life-long friend Trey Knox is already enrolled at Arkansas so I'm sure he's telling him good things about what the program is really like. The Arkansas staff has also indicated to him that they'd give him a shot at some offense as well as playing defense which really appeals to him. The delay in signing is a bad sign but the Razorbacks haven't let up on their end a bit.” -- Nikki Chavanelle, HawgBeat.com
USC
“USC came out of the early signing period well short of its needs in the secondary. The Trojans also had limited remaining top targets to satisfy those needs, so they expanded their search. That included a late run at Otey, the 4-star cornerback committed to Arkansas. And it became clear after his official visit last weekend that USC had given itself a real shot to flip him. Otey’s comments and tweets after his visit were a good sign for USC, as were his stated plans to cancel his remaining official visits to Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Otey would have the chance the compete for an immediate role at USC, and his addition would be a bit of relief for the Trojans.” -- Ryan Young, TrojanSports.com
THE VERDICT
“Otey has been committed to Arkansas since the first day of August but his recruitment took a telling turn in recent weeks when the four-star defensive back decided to take a visit to USC. He liked the trip a lot and I think it looks like he's going to flip to the Trojans at some point leading up to signing day. Arkansas has put together a terrific recruiting class but the Razorbacks need all the help they can get. This would be a big loss. USC's class is not up to par and Otey helps a lot but the Trojans usually win the Pac-12 team recruiting rankings. That probably won't happen this cycle." -- Gorney
