DT Aziz Shittu backs off Stanford commitment

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- In April, Aziz Shittu was convinced Stanford was the place for him. He committed on the spot.

Two months later, with every major national power chasing the Sporting News Top 125 defensive tackle, there were some doubts and he withdrew his commitment. The Cardinal are still high on the list, but they haven't been a frontrunner for a long time, the consensus five-star prospect told Sporting News at the FBU-Top Gun Camp in Williamsburg, Va.

Aziz Shittu, a Sporting News Top 125 defensive tackle, has reopened his recruiting after withdrawing his commitment to Stanford. (Brian McLaughlin/Sporting News)

“It’s still to this day a great opportunity to get a great degree and play BCS football,” Shittu said of Stanford. “So that intrigued me a lot. They’re not done for me, but nobody’s a frontrunner right now. This is a once in a lifetime process so you just need to make sure you go through everything and see everything.”

When asked what other schools could be considered as favorites along with Stanford, the California native didn’t hesitate: Cal, UCLA, USC, Washington, Texas A&M and Michigan were rattled off in that order.

Texas A&M was an intriguing school to include, considering the distance. The Aggies have so far put together one of the nation’s finest 2012 classes despite not having a lot of recruiting success the past few seasons. Shittu said the Aggies’ coaching staff contacts him every day on Facebook and has been relentless with its recruiting. They have definitely caught his eye.

And of course, for any California native—and any recruit around the country, for that matter—USC cannot be ignored. The Trojans’ recent problems with the NCAA aren’t an issue with Shittu.

“I think definitely with USC, their penalty has already been given to them, they’ve already gotten their punishment,” Shittu told Sporting News. “Now let’s say if it was Ohio State and still in limbo, I probably wouldn’t go into that situation, but at USC you know what you’re in store for. The only thing we’d lose is scholarships in this 2012 class, but by the time we would be there, we’d be back in bowl games."

“USC is still USC. That name still goes around, even with all these guys at this camp in Virginia from around the south, they even know about USC. It still holds a lot of power.”

Source: http://aol.sportingnews.com