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While it was a bit surprising back in July when Westerband "West" Lindor committed to the Orange, after watching his tape you could see how he'd fit in as a WR/TE hybrid in George McDonald's offense. However, as we all know, McDonald was demoted and Tim Lester took over, and Lindor looks to be the first casualty of this offensive change.
When Trey Dunkelberger committed last week, he said this -
"We talked about the direction that the offense is going with 12 personnel, being centered around tight ends and the fact that they want to see a tight end get 40 catches in a season," Dunkelberger said. "The direction they want to go just seems like an exciting place to be at this time."
It appears that Dunkelberger's commitment showed Lindor the writing on the wall, so he did what was best for him and de-committed. The most worrying part of this de-commitment, however, is that this is now the second recruit in this class that was largely ignored until he just gave up, after Gerald Robinson did so last month.
"I messaged them multiple times and they ignored me," Lindor said. "Wish I could've balled out with Syracuse, but I need to do what's best for me."
Every time we see a story like this with another school, I always thought that would never happen with the staff we have in place here at SU, but it appears we're just as bad as everyone else. While we'd probably get bad press for pulling his scholarship, I would much rather Coach Acosta or Coach Smith at least replied to his text and let him know he probably wouldn't have received playing time if he came here and that we were looking in another direction.
It's not a very classy move and one that's a bit out of character if Shafer wants to run the family program he claims to do. And that's coming from me, one of his biggest fans. A scathing quote from Lindor ended the Post-Standard article about his de-commitment, and it should end this one as well as it makes me cringe to read it.
Said Lindor: "It kind of sucks because I wouldn't have left them for any program. I kept my word, but then again life isn't always fair and I accept that."
I wish West Lindor the best in his future endeavors, as he's clearly a smart and talented kid. I hope he lands at a BCS school and has much success in his college career, because I really hate recruiting some times.