Iowa State football recruiting: Xavier Pegues, Larry Jefferson decommit from Cyclones
By Brian Spaen
After rumblings that Xavier Pegues was going to decommit from the program and join West Virginia early on Wednesday, both him and his teammate, Larry Jefferson, made it official.
The two players from Itawamba Community College of flipped their commitment and will be joining the Mountaineers. Pegues made his commitment late Wednesday night and then Jefferson did the same earlier on Thursday.
Iowa State commit Xavier Pegues has flipped to West Virginia.
— Alex Halsted (@AlexHalsted) November 13, 2014
JUCO DE Larry Jefferson has decommitted Iowa State he tells http://t.co/N9i4KUVmbj.
— Alex Halsted (@AlexHalsted) November 13, 2014
To be clear, Pegues has only committed to West Virginia — Jefferson has simply decommitted. But they have been vocal about playing together, so it’s widely expected Jefferson will be joining Pegues. The interesting angle on this story is that Jefferson already committed to West Virginia back on October 1st, but then flipped his commitment 12 days later to Iowa State. Less than a week ago, Jefferson made an official visit to Kentucky.
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Both players are listed as weakside defensive ends at 247Sports. Jefferson checks in at 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds and Pegues is 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds. Both players are 3-star prospects and are two of the top WDE in the JUCO rankings.
This means Iowa State now has zero JUCOs committed for the 2015 season and the class suffers a heavy blow. The Cyclones need better defensive players now and the athletes that could have been playing immediately are now out.
It’s a tough time for the Cyclone football team right now. If more players waver on their commitment to the program because of Paul Rhoads’ job security being up in the air, it could force Jamie Pollard to make a tough decision at the end of the season.