Four of the top six pro-style quarterbacks and both of the five-star dual-threat quarterbacks decommitted in the 2025 class. Here is a look at the 10 most impactful QB decommitments of the last decade.
MORE: Top 10 wildest HS recruitments among Super Bowl stars
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1. CARSON BECK'S DECOMMITMENT FROM ALABAMA
The four-star from Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin committed to Alabama early but with all the Crimson Tide’s success meant a bunch of assistant coaches left for other jobs and that left Beck in a bind: He didn’t know many people there.
So Beck backed off his Alabama pledge but kept the Tide in his recruitment as he got to know some new coaches and then Florida emerged as the front-runner. That was until Georgia offered – his dream school – and he decided to essentially pick the Bulldogs over the Gators.
Both sides actually won out here. If Beck stuck with Alabama it would have been unlikely that Bryce Young would have ended up with the Crimson Tide in the same class.
2. JUSTIN FIELDS' DECOMMITMENT FROM PENN STATE
At one time, Fields was committed to Penn State and one wonders what the Nittany Lions’ offense would have looked like and whether coach James Franklin could have won a national championship if Fields was his quarterback instead of Sean Clifford during those years.
The five-star quarterback from Kennesaw (Ga.) Harrison backed off his Penn State pledge and signed with Georgia. But it didn’t work there either so he transferred to Ohio State and took the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoffs in 2019 where they lost to Clemson. The following year was the COVID season and then Fields was off to the NFL as the No. 11 overall pick.
3. MAC JONES' FLIP FROM KENTUCKY TO ALABAMA
Jones made an early commitment to Kentucky when East Carolina was one of his only other offers and that pledge stuck for a long time until Alabama got seriously involved and eventually flipped him.
The Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles standout landed an offer from the Crimson Tide, threw for then-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and the rest is history as the four-star went to Alabama, won two national championships and was the No. 15 pick in the NFL Draft.
Jones was in the same insanely loaded Alabama class as Tua Tagovailoa, Najee Harris, Jedrick Wills, Devonta Smith and so many others.
4. JULIAN LEWIS' FLIP FROM USC TO COLORADO
Lewis committed to USC in the summer before his sophomore season and then reclassified to the 2025 class as it looked like everything was in order for him to be the next great quarterback under Lincoln Riley, who has had Caleb Williams, Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield and others.
But as signing day got closer, and Lewis kept visiting Colorado over and over again, a flip not only became anticipated but then fully expected. At the same time, USC was managing through that reality by working on a flip of four-star QB Husan Longstreet from Texas A&M.
Lewis turned down playing for Riley, who has groomed Heisman Trophy winners and No. 1 picks, to play for coach Deion Sanders, offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and to quite possibly start from Day 1 taking over for Shedeur Sanders.
5. DRAKE MAYE'S FLIP FROM ALABAMA TO NORTH CAROLINA
The Charlotte (N.C.) Myers Park four-star quarterback committed to Alabama early and it was totally understandable: The Crimson Tide were rolling, coach Nick Saban could get anybody he wanted and Alabama is Alabama.
But with his brother playing basketball in Chapel Hill and coach Mack Brown’s constant recruitment of the in-state prospect, Maye flipped his pledge to North Carolina.
Alabama stayed perfectly fine and continued to win at the highest level whether with Mac Jones and then Bryce Young. But Maye had a phenomenal career with the Tar Heels and ended up as the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft.
What was interesting about this whole story is that when Alabama needed a quarterback heading into the 2023 season, there were a bunch of rumors that the Crimson Tide reached out to try to get Maye into the portal and then get him from there which drew the ire of Brown although those rumors were never publicly substantiated.
6. DANTE MOORE'S FLIP FROM OREGON TO UCLA
Moore backed off of a five-month commitment to Oregon and flipped to UCLA on signing day, only to transfer from the Bruins to the Ducks a year later. One wonders what the UCLA program would look like right now if Moore stayed in Westwood.
Would Chip Kelly still be Moore’s coach? Would the five-star from Detroit (Mich.) Martin Luther King grown exponentially from a tough freshman season in which he was thrown to the wolves into an elite quarterback that he showed at the high school level?
We’ll never know because Moore left UCLA after one season and transferred to Oregon with the intention of sitting behind fellow transfer Dillon Gabriel and learning the college game before his expected takeover next season. Kelly begged for his job to stay as UCLA’s coach, then left shortly after to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator and left there after a season to be the Las Vegas Raiders OC.
7. DYLAN RAIOLA'S FLIP FROM GEORGIA TO NEBRASKA
Looking back on Raiola’s recruitment, it was pretty wild as he turned down both Ohio State and Georgia (along with USC even though he wasn’t committed there) to play at Nebraska where he’s a double legacy.
If the five-star quarterback stuck with the Buckeyes, he and five-star phenom WR Jeremiah Smith would have partnered up but five-star QB Julian Sayin would have never gone there.
If Raiola stuck with his second commitment to Georgia, he probably wouldn’t have started last season as a freshman – like he did at Nebraska – because Carson Beck was there but would be taking over for the Bulldogs if everything else played out like it did and Beck transferred to Miami.
Raiola had an impressive freshman season but needed more firepower around him heading into Year 2. Some of that should be coming to Lincoln.
8. KEELON RUSSELL'S FLIP FROM SMU TO ALABAMA
After so many outstanding performances whether it was during the season, at the Rivals Five-Star, at the Elite 11 or elsewhere, Russell finished as the No. 1 prospect in the 2025 Rivals250. And he nearly stayed home and played for coach Rhett Lashlee at SMU.
The five-star quarterback from Duncanville, Texas, committed to the Mustangs in September 2023 before he was such a national name. But once Alabama started getting really serious about flipping him, Russell couldn’t say no to the Crimson Tide.
SMU could have benefitted in so many ways not only because of Russell’s immense talent but he would have been such a phenomenal recruiter for other Duncanville players and the Dallas area as a whole, right where Lashlee wants to build his recruiting class from.
Russell is also so talented that in an open Alabama quarterback competition, he could enter it as the odds-on favorite to start for the Crimson Tide as a freshman.
9. BRYCE UNDERWOOD'S FLIP FROM LSU TO MICHIGAN
The five-star quarterback, who finished No. 3 overall in the 2025 rankings, committed to LSU last January and it looked like he was going to stick with the Tigers. That was until Michigan came in with a massive NIL deal with Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison and the Belleville, Mich., standout flipped his pledge to the Wolverines.
He should start immediately for two reasons: First, Underwood is supremely talented and second, Michigan’s quarterback play was atrocious this season. It will be interesting to see if coach Sherrone Moore tailors Michigan’s offense around Underwood’s incredible ability or if the leash will stay on for some time.
10. BRYCE YOUNG'S FLIP FROM USC TO ALABAMA
The implications if Young stayed with his USC commitment are so interesting to think through even if we’ll never know the answers.
The five-star quarterback was pledged to the Trojans before flipping to Alabama and he clearly could have been the starter early on over Kedon Slovis and Matt Fink although Jaxson Dart was also there before he transferred to Ole Miss and is now a potential first-round draft pick.
Where this gets most interesting is that coach Lincoln Riley took the job for the 2022 season and brought superstar QB Caleb Williams with him. What would that situation have looked like and would former coach Clay Helton even been fired if Young was running the offense at USC rather than in Tuscaloosa?
