Beth Long’s football recruiting notebook

Recruiting can change in an instant, just take a look at Lyons quarterback Ben Bryant. The junior committed to Wisconsin after the Badgers offered him a scholarship during his sophomore season.

“Wisconsin was one of my first offers a year ago,” Bryant said. “I knew that day that I wanted to be a Badger.”

Bryant, a 6-3 195-pound prospect, will be one of the area’s top players in the upcoming season. He remained committed to the Badgers until this month.

“My recruitment was shut down very early in December,” Bryant said. “Many coaches who visited my high school knew from both my high school coaches and from me that I was 100-percent committed to Wisconsin.”

That’s when things got interesting. Bryant continued to add interest from other schools and most recently added an offer from Georgia. It’s normal for prospects to add offers from schools after they have committed, often without upsetting their commitment.

“I had no intention of visiting Georgia,” Bryant said. “I had no intention of committing to Georgia. However I felt very complemented by this offer and appreciated very much the attention they were showing me.”

Now Bryant has reopened his commitment. He said it was a bittersweet decision to back on the market.

Bryant is a 6-foot-3, 195-pound prospect who added a lot of interest right off the bat because of his arm strength and accuracy. This offseason, Bryant is playing 7-on-7 with Midwest Boom.

First offer for Jeffrey Griffin

Homewood-Flossmoor continues to develop athletes that attract attention on the recruiting trail. The latest is junior Jeffrey Griffin, a 6-2, 240-pound lineman who just added his first offer from Indiana State.

“It was a great feeling honestly,” Griffin said. “I was shocked about getting the offer and it took me by surprise. It felt great to know that I was doing something right and finally going down the right path.”

The first offer is a special one, for both the prospect and his family.

“My family was happier than me actually, they couldn’t stop praising it and kept telling me to strive for more and keep pushing,” Griffin said. “They’ve seen me work my whole life and put everything I’ve had into this sport and were glad to see it pay off.”

There are other schools on Griffin’s recruiting radar.

“I’ll definitely be visiting Indiana State in a few weeks, I have a Iowa camp I’ll be attending Northwestern camp, Northern Illinois, North Central and the Rivals camp next weekend,” Griffin said.

This offseason, Griffin has a goal in mind of what he’s out to prove.

“I’m out to show everyone that I’m the best underestimated player in the state, I didn’t have defensive film this year but I know what I got and I know what I can do so I’m out to prove that people need to watch for me,” Griffin said.

Griffin has also heard from Iowa, Missouri State, Michigan State, North Dakota State and Toledo.

“They say like my body frame, I’m a big body player with good feet and good speed of the edge for someone my size, very strong and athletic with an attitude,” Griffin said.