It’s not uncommon for high school recruits to take official visits to other schools when they are already committed elsewhere. What is uncommon is for a recruit to show up to a visit at a rival school decked out in the gear of the school he is committed to and actively try to recruit other visiting recruits to that school. Apparently that’s what blue chip recruit and Tennessee commit Preston Williams did this past weekend while on a trip to Auburn.
Five-star wide receiver Preston Williams committed to Tennessee back in September of 2013, but he made Vols fans nervous by taking a late official visit to Auburn over the weekend. Luckily for the Tennessee faithful, Williams used the weekend to attempt to recruit other players to Tennessee, which is not something we’ve heard of before. That is some bold trolling for a high school player. Rocky Top Insider has details from the visit:
Finally, we reported last week that wide receiver commit Preston Williams had planned to visit Auburn over the weekend. Well, Williams did end up making the trip, but ended up leaving the visit a day early. The rumors out of Auburn were that Williams was “being a distraction” and “disrupting the weekend,” but we are hearing that Williams was actually asked to leave by Auburn staff members because he showed up wearing nothing but Tennessee apparel and was actively recruiting other visitors to join him at Tennessee. Not exactly prototypical guest behavior for an official visitor, but that news isn’t likely to upset Vol fans too much.
This is a pretty ballsy move by Williams. It’s disrespectful to the school you’re visiting to do something like this because they take the time to bring you in, put you up in a nice hotel and show you a good time, and the whole time you are trying to take away from their recruiting weekend. I get the whole rival school deal, but at the same time it doesn’t reflect well on the kid for him to pull a stunt like this.
If you want a free trip out of the deal and have no intention of flipping to the school then just play it coy and enjoy your trip. I have no problem with recruits wanting to take all of their visits because you only get one chance to get wined and dined like this as a recruit, but don’t act like a jerk while you do it.