Loston decommits from Clemson; DFW standouts commit

Following Clemson's dismissal of head coach Tommy Bowden on Monday morning, the Tigers lost a prized five-star recruit in Aldine Eisenhower safety Craig Loston.

Loston, who gave a verbal commit to Bowden's staff back in April, had been wavering back-and-forth on that commitment recently, even taking unofficial visits to numerous schools recently.

"I'm gone," Loston told TigerIllustrated.com when informed of Bowden's firing on Monday. "I'm not going there."

The 6-foot-2, 193-pound Loston was the highest out-of-region verbal commit for Clemson since the Tigers signed Milford (Conn.) Prep Academy linebacker Idris Price in 1996.

"Clemson isn't doing that good," Loston told Tigerillustrated.com. "They werern't beating the schools they were supposed to be beating."

Loston, who is ranked as the No. 12 prospect in the nation according to Prep Ticket, said that his top three schools now are LSU, Texas and Oregon.

LSU figures to be the early front-runner because of family ties.

Loston's cousin, Cy Ridge quarterback Russell Shepard, committed to the Tigers back in March and has been trying to recruit him to the SEC school since then.

"I've talked to Craig and he's doing pretty good," Shepard told TigerBait.com in September. "He's real excited about coming (to LSU)."

Loston's history includes his inability to stay committed to schools. He also gave a verbal commit to Texas A&M in January 2007, before de-committing in October 2007.

With news of Bowden's firing made public, Clemson lost a second safety with South Pointe (Rock Hill, S.C.) High School's Devonte Holloman announcing his de-commitment.

In other recruiting news involving Texas athletes on Monday, Hurst L.D. Bell defensive end Josh Mauro gave his verbal commit to coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff at Stanford, while Duncanville wide receiver Chayse Joubert elected to stay close to home and join the SMU Mustangs.

Date of Article: Mon Oct 13, 2008 2:51 pm

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