So it has been relatively quiet with Paris Ford since everything seemed to go haywire on Friday night. In case you missed it, Friday night saw a series of events starting with a tweet in the afternoon about wanting to get out of Pittsburgh, which led to a mass following of Miami coaches on Twitter and a number of Miami-centric tweets and retweets and culminated with him telling the Miami Rivals site that he would be taking an official visit to Miami this coming weekend - with a strong possibility of him flipping his commitment.
As I said Saturday morning, much of that came out of nowhere; people around Ford, including his parents and coaches, had no idea that he said those things Friday night and they were surprised to see it/hear about it Friday night and Saturday morning. But they all maintained on Saturday morning that he would not be visiting Miami this weekend; he would be at Pitt.
After letting things cool down for a day or two, I reached out to some people yesterday to see where things stand, and the message was the same: Ford will be at Pitt this weekend. That's the word from people close to him, and one person I spoke with said Ford told him on Monday that he is still solid with Pitt.
Of course, there is a question of why Ford said those things Friday night? I mean, those are direct quotes, and that's pretty hard to refute. From what I can gather, it sounds like there were some personal things that were going on that night, things that have nothing to do with Pitt and probably don't reflect his long-term plans - those long-term plans being a future at Pitt.
So where do things stand today? He's going to take his official visit to Pitt this weekend. Beyond that, we'll see what happens, but I am confident he will stick with Pitt. I am of the opinion that he probably won't actually visit Miami, but we'll see how that plays out.
We'll add the standard caveat that this is recruiting and things can always change; someone can tell you something that is true on Monday but isn't true on Tuesday. But that's where things stand today, and while there will probably be some drama and tension between now and Signing Day, I'm still pretty confident he'll be signing with Pitt that day.
Also, I should add that the Pitt staff didn't take its time on this. They were in touch with Ford and his family Friday night and Saturday morning, not necessarily issuing ultimatums but more just getting a feel for the situation. On that side of things, it seems like the coaches are confident they will hold onto him, too. They know they will have to keep recruiting him over the next three weeks just as hard as they have recruited him over the last two years.
As I said Saturday morning, much of that came out of nowhere; people around Ford, including his parents and coaches, had no idea that he said those things Friday night and they were surprised to see it/hear about it Friday night and Saturday morning. But they all maintained on Saturday morning that he would not be visiting Miami this weekend; he would be at Pitt.
After letting things cool down for a day or two, I reached out to some people yesterday to see where things stand, and the message was the same: Ford will be at Pitt this weekend. That's the word from people close to him, and one person I spoke with said Ford told him on Monday that he is still solid with Pitt.
Of course, there is a question of why Ford said those things Friday night? I mean, those are direct quotes, and that's pretty hard to refute. From what I can gather, it sounds like there were some personal things that were going on that night, things that have nothing to do with Pitt and probably don't reflect his long-term plans - those long-term plans being a future at Pitt.
So where do things stand today? He's going to take his official visit to Pitt this weekend. Beyond that, we'll see what happens, but I am confident he will stick with Pitt. I am of the opinion that he probably won't actually visit Miami, but we'll see how that plays out.
We'll add the standard caveat that this is recruiting and things can always change; someone can tell you something that is true on Monday but isn't true on Tuesday. But that's where things stand today, and while there will probably be some drama and tension between now and Signing Day, I'm still pretty confident he'll be signing with Pitt that day.
Also, I should add that the Pitt staff didn't take its time on this. They were in touch with Ford and his family Friday night and Saturday morning, not necessarily issuing ultimatums but more just getting a feel for the situation. On that side of things, it seems like the coaches are confident they will hold onto him, too. They know they will have to keep recruiting him over the next three weeks just as hard as they have recruited him over the last two years.
