During check-in at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, four-star quarterback and Ole Miss signee Matt Corral opened up about what led to his de-commitment from Florida

SAN ANTONIO — When all was said and done, Long Beach (Calif.) Poly four-star quarterback Matt Corral had a pretty wild recruiting process.

The 6-2, 196-pounder committed to USC back on Feb. 5, 2016 and was done. His process was completely shutdown and he wanted to be a Trojan. However, things happened and he and USC parted ways.

On July 22, Corral found his new home in Gainesville and committed to Florida. Once again, his process was over. He was ready to sign with the Gators, if he could have at the time, and turn his attention solely on his senior season.

Once again, things changed. Head coach Jim McElwain was fired and Florida brought in Dan Mullen as its new head coach. So, what went wrong between Corral and Florida?

Shortly after taking the job, reports surfaced that Mullen was taking a visit to the Peach State to visit five-star Georgia quarterback commit Justin Fields, not Corral, his quarterback commit. However, in the end, that wasn’t what pushed Corral away from the Gators.

During check-in at the 2018 U.S. Army All-American Bowl, he opened up about the fallout with the Florida staff and what led to his eventual commitment to Ole Miss.

“It’s not the fact that they went to visit other quarterbacks, but it was the fact that I didn’t get hit up, or a call, three weeks into it,” said Corral. “I know people will say, ‘Oh, they didn’t want you.’ That’s not true. I was going to sign the papers that day, the day they told me I was the guy. So, I got the feeling that I was the guy only because nobody else wanted to be and I was just the backup. It doesn’t really matter to me, but it was about where I genuinely wanted to be and where I was genuinely wanted. I was stuck on the fence. Yeah, coach Mullen could develop me into a quarterback, but if I really want to go where I want to go, I’m going to get there. Not having a certain coach isn’t going to stop me from going where I want to be.”

Corral wanted to be at Florida. He was genuine when he said his recruitment was over. He recruited hard for the Gators and was very much looking forward to his time in Gainesville. However, in the end, it was a lack of trust that pushed him away.

“Coach Billy Gonzales came and it was more like he was trying to be a car salesman,” said Corral of the Gators assistant. “They were more trying to sell me something than, ‘We want you,’ type, if that makes sense. I guess you could say, not taking this the wrong way, but just, I don’t want to say fake, but more along the lines of that. I just didn’t believe what they were saying.”

Even after all that, Corral still wanted to be at Florida. He decided that he’d inform the coaching staff that he’ll stick with his pledge and become a Gator. However, after continued conversations with the staff, something didn’t sit right with him. On the flip side, his trust in Ole Miss head coach Matt Luke and the belief that he is as genuine as they come, is what separated the Rebels.

“I told Florida I’m the guy. Don’t recruit anyone. I said we’re done,” said Corral. “Coach Mullen said ‘We’re done recruiting. You’re our quarterback. You’re our guy.’ Alright, set. I’m thinking about it all night and it just didn’t sit right with me. I just felt like I didn’t make the right decision. I called Florida the day coach Luke came by. They were hitting me up when coach Luke was there, but I wasn’t really responding because he was there. I hit Florida up later that night, but nobody picked up. I don’t know if they felt something was going to happen, but none of them picked up. So, I sent them a text saying thank you for all of this and everything, then I de-committed and committed to Ole Miss.”

Corral put pen to paper during the early signing period and is officially set to attend Ole Miss as an early enrollee in January. So, what did he learn throughout the recruiting process? A lot.

“You learn a lot, for sure. I learned a lot over the past few months. The last few months were crucial,” said Corral. “What did I learn? You can’t trust. You’re going to have a ton of people pulling on you and tugging on you and in the end, you have to trust your gut.”

SOURCE:  Tom Loy.  1 January 2018.  247Sports.  https://247sports.com/Article/Ole-Miss-QB-signee-Matt-Corral-opens-up-at-the-Army-All-American-Bowl-on-what-went-wrong-with-Florida-113004107