Monday afternoon, 2022 linebacker Carlton Madden Jr. announced on his Twitter account that he has chosen to back away from his commitment to the Colorado Buffaloes.
A bit of a late bloomer in the cycle, there were no SEC offers on the table when the Buffaloes received a verbal commitment from Madden Jr. After attending the Georgia Bulldogs’ camp on June 4 and being offered a scholarship, other schools have taken an interest. Now, he has offers from Ole Miss and Georgia Tech, as well.
The news may be of interest to the Gators’ recruiting staff, who have been involved with Madden Jr. during his recruiting process. They brought him to Gainesville for an unofficial visit in March 2020. At the time, he tweeted that he had a “great visit” and reposted several pictures from the trip throughout the following fall.
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Madden Jr.’s choice to distance himself from his commitment to Colorado is not a surprising one, considering the opportunity before him to compete in the nation’s premier football conference. However, he was even-keeled in his statement, saying he needed to “make sure” he was making the right choice and asking for people to respect his decision.
“A lot of things have changed,” the linebacker added after the decommitment announcement. “You know a lot of new schools have been hollering at me, so I just want to make sure that I’m making the right choice.”
Madden plays as both an outside linebacker and edge rusher. He plays with 235 pounds on his 6-foot-3-inch frame. He’s usually able to simply outmuscle high school competition, so it’s hard to tell from his highlight reel what his best role is, but college scouts can get a better idea of his skillset at school camps.
At the moment, Georgia is considered the leader for Madden Jr., and Florida has not extended an offer yet, but that hardly means it’s out of the question. The interest from programs of the Gators’ caliber has only sprung up in the last month, and there’s still time for the team to assert themselves more prominently if they want to bring him in-house.
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