Christian LaCouture Decommits: Nebraska'a 2013 Class Now Sits At 13

And to be honest, is there any way to pretend that this was completely unexpected?

Lacouture's absence on the sidelines last Saturday seemed to be confirmation enough that his mind had changed yet again after attending all of the Huskers' previous home games. Count Lincoln SW teammate and fellow Husker commit Josh Banderas among those who were surprised by his absence as well. According to the Lincoln JS, Christian made the decision last week, but did not want it made public until Lincoln SW's playoff run was complete.

Verbal pledges are nothing more than the college football version of being engaged to be engaged. The fact that the sport is responsible for the invention of the word "decommit" tells you how silly it probably is to even use the word "commitment" as a description for what these kids are doing.

Still, many people seem somewhat taken aback by this development, mainly because the family had picked up and moved from Texas to Lincoln for Lacouture's senior season with plans for him to graduate early and enroll at UNL for the January semester. However, a closer look perhaps reveals that we should have seen this one coming. Nebraska makes the 2nd school from which he has decommitted as he had originally pledged to Texas A&M. And the family had reportedly moved from Odessa to College Station for that one, so relocation should not have been seen as a sign of dedication to the Big Red in this case.

Christian Lacouture is that newer breed of high school football nomad as Lincoln SW made the fourth high school he had attended in the last four years. Makes Taylor Martinez' high school journey seem downright stable by comparison. Armed with that information and the fact that LSU had stayed in constant contact with him, it's certainly plausible to consider that any perceived lack of attention from the Nebraska staff might cause the family to start looking around.

The word from the Nebraska side of things is that the decision was "mutual" which many times is the buzzword that the staff has let the recruit know that it isn't going to work out for whatever reason.

Some say he wasn't looking very quick at DE, or at least not standing above the crowd in Nebraska HS football in the dominating way that one would expect from a big-time Texas kid. And if it was decided his future was in the interior, he certainly seemed to fit the Big 12 model of DT (Steinkuhler, Crick), rather than the stockier, run-stuffing B1G version we've recruited the last two years (Valentine, K. Williams).

So outside of all the rumors that normally follow a kid's decommitment: 1)he actually stunk, 2) we don't need him anyway and 3) he was a royal pain in the ass whose miserable attitude is unwelcome here (1), is it possible that this might have been a move that was truly in the best interests of everyone?

Possibly. Put it this way, if he wasn't wowing anyone with his speed off the end such as current NU targets like Gregory, but it was determined that a kid with his frame and build would be better suited inside, then maybe it was time for a chat. As stated above, NU doesn't appear to be recruiting the 6'5" defensive tackle these days. LSU, on the other hand has remained highly interested in Christian, not the least of the reasons why being that they only have one DT pledge so far. I won't go so far as to guess that some friendly calls happened between Bo and his former boss. (Hey, I love brainless speculation as much as anyone, but c'mon.)

But let's face it, there's certainly some circumstances there to suggest that this may have been a true "mutual" parting of the ways.

(1) - Admit it - does anyone do fan base butthurt over decommits better than we do?