Three-star LB signs with Kansas State after Auburn grayshirt request
While Will Muschamp's return to Auburn was heralded as a huge recruiting help for Auburn on National Signing Day, the Tigers didn't get every defensive prospect on their radar.
Cece Jefferson, a five-star defensive end, committed to Florida on Wednesday afternoon. And Elijah Sullivan, a three-star linebacker recruit from Georgia, decided to sign with Kansas State after a grayshirt request from the Tigers.
Sullivan had been verbally committed to Auburn for almost a year. However, the request to either walk on as a freshman or delay his enrollment at the school until January 2016 rubbed him the wrong way.
“Some things came up with Auburn,” Sullivan told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “They wanted to grayshirt me. My parents and I talked about it. Some things didn’t sit too well with them. So I opened it back up. My coach got Kansas State in the picture, and I officially flipped and signed with them on Wednesday morning.”
While five-star recruits and the battle for the top spot in recruiting rankings receive the most attention every National Signing Day, the concept of grayshirting is a very common one along with oversigning, when teams end up with more players than scholarships. Sullivan isn't alone, and he said the grayshirt idea came up when Muschamp arrived at Auburn.
Ellis Johnson was fired as the Tigers' defensive coordinator after the 2014 season. After Muschamp parted ways with Florida as the Gators' head coach, he chose to replace Johnson at a school where he was formerly an assistant.
Kansas State was an option because one of his teammates from high school was heading to Manhattan, Kan.
“I was aware that Auburn wanted to grayshirt me about a month ago,” Sullivan said. “It happened right when Coach Muschamp and the new staff came in. I talked to them about a week later after they got there, and the coaches told me that they wanted to grayshirt me because, uh, well .. I’m not sure what it was really for so I’m not going to speak on that. But yeah, they told me right after the staff meeting that they wanted to grayshirt me.”
Auburn's class ended up No. 6 in Rivals' 2015 team rankings. Kansas State's is No. 50. One of the Tigers' recruits is DE Byron Cowart, the No. 1 player in the class of 2015.
For more Auburn news, visit AuburnSports.com.
For more Kansas State news, visit GoPowercat.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!