NFL Network commitment snafu may have cost TCU a recruit

It was a pretty quiet 4th of July week around college football but if you follow the sport extra closely you’d know that many of the nation’s best recruits were involved at the annual “The Opening” event up at Nike headquarters over the holiday.

This year was a bit different as longtime partner ESPN wasn’t broadcasting the event but rather it was the puzzling choice of NFL Network. As you can expect, the home of pro football had a few issues while dipping into high school recruiting coverage and it appears that in doing so it may have cost TCU a coveted recruit.

I am pushing my commitment Day back so my family can watch. It'll be on NFL Network.

— Ja’MarrChase (@Real10jayy__) June 30, 2017

That tweet came from four-star Ja’Marr Chase, who was expected by many experts to select the Horned Frogs while committing on-air earlier in the week. He didn’t actually end up pulling the trigger in front of cameras due to a production delay and it seems that is what could cost TCU his services in the long run.

Per 247Sports:

The tea leaves were indicating that Gary Patterson was likely to land Chase over the home-state LSU Tigers had he committed on schedule. However, Chase was so good at The Opening and his stock has shot up so much that it now looks like he’s going to take a step back and re-evaluate his options. If TCU ends up losing Chase to LSU or some other national power, they can thank the NFL Network for the sabotage.

Ouch.

This isn’t the first time that LSU and TCU have butted heads over a player this offseason and we can probably say it won’t be the last either. Hopefully the two can meet in a bowl game to settle all their differences.