Flip-Flopping Football Recruit Victor Singleton: Illinois' New Cliff Alexander?

The retracted commitment of an Illini football uber-recruit isn't a calamity – it's just sports, and it's not even anything new

Toledo Central Catholic s Victor Singleton Jr. intercepts a pass intended Bishop Watterson s Cal Mangini ending the Eagles' final drive during the Division III state final Friday, Dec. 1, 2023, in Canton. / Bob Rossiter / Special to The Canton Repository / USA TODAY NETWORK

Even before all the confetti had landed from the celebration of a landmark recruiting commitment, Bret Bielema and Illinois' football program were left wondering why the guest of honor didn't bother to show up.

On Saturday night, Victor Singleton – a four-star cornerback from Toledo, Ohio, who had committed to the Illini back in February – announced he was pulling out and instead committing to Texas A&M.

A subsection of fans, presumably with Illinois ties, went bonkers. The reaction was ridiculously predictable. One of the best things about college football is the exuberance of its fans, but the line between passionate and pathetic is a relatively thin one. The worst comments directed toward Singleton ranged from calling him a "coward" to wishing him injury.

First, a quick fan tutorial: If your day-to-day hinges on the ranking of Illinois' 2026 recruiting class – which plummeted after Singleton's announcement, from No. 7 all the way to ... No. 10 – you're doing it wrong. Read a book. Put on some music. Take a walk in the woods. It'll do you good.

But if you reach out to a teenager wrestling with one of the biggest decisions of their life in order to chastise, threaten or otherwise wish ill, you're failing at life and are quite likely a sociopath. Get help and stay off the internet.

Now for some perspective: More than a decade ago, the Illini basketball program was in the running – and may have been the leader – to sign an elite high school recruit named Cliff Alexander. A forward from Chicago's Curie, Alexander was considered the No. 4 overall player in his class and theoretically would have boosted Illinois' fortunes both on the floor, in Chicago recruiting circles and possibly in national prominence.

Instead, at Alexander's signing announcement – back then, such things were often captured on video, with ball caps representing each of the recruit's finalists spread out before them – he semi-famously pulled an okey-doke, first grabbing the Illinois hat and then dropping it to reveal he was actually headed to Kansas.

It was tough enough to swallow the top recruit in the class – another Chicago kid – signing with Mike Krzyzewski and Duke. And the announcement bait-and-switch felt personal to touchy Illinois fans. But the choice of Kansas – where once-beloved and instantly reviled former Illini coach Bill Self had defected to – just felt like salt in the wound. Alexander was an instant pariah around Champaign.

But here's the thing: Alexander went on to play in Lawrence for all of one season, averaging 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds and joining a host of future pros (Devonte Graham, Kelly Oubre, Wayne Selden, among others) to lead the Jayhawks all the way to ... the Sweet 16. He bolted to the pros weeks later and went on to play a whopping eight career NBA games. End of story.

Point is, fans have no idea how these athletes' stories will unfold, where they'll end – or if they may even cross paths with those of their favored schools again. (Who knows? Singleton might be back on Bielema's radar this time next year. The portal giveth and it taketh away.)

In any case, fans, as grown adults, have control over how they comport themselves on these occasions. It should go without saying, but here it is: It's just sports. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back in the game. Act like you've been there before. There are plenty of Victor Singletons in the sea.

And who knows? Maybe the next one comes with five stars.

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