Baby Gronk Flips Commitment to Nebraska 5 Days After Deion Sanders, Colorado Pledge
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZuckerFeatured Columnist IVMay 30, 2024
James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The carousel of commitments continues for “Baby Gronk.”
Madden San Miguel, the youth football prospect who has gained viral fame, announced he has “committed” to Nebraska.
BABY GRONK @BabyGronk5BABY GRONK FLIPS TO NEBRASKA pic.twitter.com/DceZYmq09O
This comes five days after he said he intended to play for Colorado and head coach Deion Sanders and follows a series of similar proclamations about where he’ll play in college despite being too young to make any binding commitments.
The Athletic’s Ari Wasserman interviewed Jake San Miguel, Madden’s father, in June 2023 when the youngster first gained a level of national recognition. Jake said at the time his son had “one real offer” from Arizona but conceded he couldn’t make any actual commitments until he entered the seventh grade.
The San Miguels quickly experienced some backlash thanks to their viral fame. Critics said they symbolized larger issues within youth sports, namely when parents live vicariously through their children or push their kids into specialized training without considering the consequences.
JJ Watt @JJWattI’ve always said…
Kids should play multiple sports and kids should be allowed to be kids.
I’m not against advanced leagues, better competition, etc.
But no kid should be playing one sport all year & no kid should be training “like a pro” until at least HS.
They’re kids.
It’s anybody’s guess how the college football landscape will look by 2031, when Madden will graduate high school, and that’s true for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers went 5-7 in Matt Rhule’s first season as head coach, but landing 5-star quarterback Dylan Raiola offers hope for the future.
Equally unclear is whether San Miguel will be a recruit who garners sustained interest from the top schools in the country.
One thing is fairly certain: By the time you’re reading this, “Baby Gronk” will have probably committed to somewhere else.
