IU football landed its 20th commitment of the class of 2017 on Friday morning. Athlete Juwan Burgess decommitted from Southern California and committed to the Hoosiers, the Florida recruit announced via Twitter.
“After (sitting) down and talking to my family I have decided to announce that I will be switching my commitment from University of Southern California to Indiana University,” Burgess said in his tweet.
ESPN rates Burgess as a 4-star and includes him in its ESPN300 rankings as the 273rd-best player in the country. 247Sports has Burgess as a 3-star recruit.
Burgess, who had committed to USC in August of 2016, is the third IU commitment from Plant High School in Tampa, Florida. Thomas Allen — IU Coach Tom Allen’s son and 3-star IU linebacker commit — finished his career at Plant this season after helping the team to a 7A Division runner-up title.
Burgess visited Bloomington on Jan. 13, the same day as recent IU commits Tyrese Fryfogle and high school teammate Whop Philyor. All three committed to IU within the next week.
In addition to Allen’s efforts at Plant, secondary coach Noah Joseph led the efforts with Burgess’ recruitment.
The athlete was also targeted by Florida, Alabama, Clemson and Miami. He has an official visit scheduled with Florida today.
With Burgess’ commitment the Hoosiers draw even with the Class of 2016’s total number of signees — a number that Allen and his staff were aiming for after the Foster Farms Bowl.
Commits will sign their letters of intent Feb. 1.
Taylor Lehman
