Report: Bryan Harper De-Commits from Washington

Reports out of California is that defensive back Bryan Harper has decommitted from UW. The first to break the news was Greg Biggins of ESPN. He sent out this tweet:

Harper was said to be committed based around the recruiting style and the work of UW’s former defensive back coach Demetrice Martin. Who is now the defensive back coach at UCLA. Martin departed UW last week and decided to accept the offer to go to UCLA because of his family ties (his hometown) in the LA area.

Up to this point there had really been no fall-out from the departure of Coach Martin, however, Harper may just be the first of a handful that re-evaluate their verbal with Washington. Not all will move on but one only can assume that a handful will.

Brandon Huffman of Scout.com described Coach Martin to me as

UW’s best recruiter. He was also in on a handful of undecided recruits; Brandon Beaver being the most notable. He had eliminated UCLA but when Coach Martin was hired there, is now going to unofficially visit and reevalute if he would like to attend UCLA.

While on the other hand, Damion Turpin, out of the same High School as Beaver, decided to attend UW even though Coach Martin was the main recruiter for him. He had previous tried to commit to UCLA but they pulled his offer just before he decided to commit. He has expressed to ESPN and Greg Biggins that UW is the right place for him.

UPDATE: Adam Gorney of Rivals.com also tweeted about the de-commitment.