Four-star Willie Gay opens his recruitment back up

Willie Gay opened his recruitment back up Monday morning, a day after returning from an official visit to Michigan and after signaling a potential change in status for a few weeks.

The four-star linebacker from Starkville, Mississippi, who committed to Ole Miss in June, announced the decision on Twitter.

"I would like to thank all the Ole Miss fans and coaching staff for all the love and support these last few months, but after talking to my mom and praying on it I've decided to decommit from the University of Mississippi."

Gay told RebelGrove.com on October 5 he was still considering Mississippi State, Florida, Florida State and Michigan.

Prior to that comment, Gay removed all Ole Miss-related images and text from his Twitter biography page.

He said at the time it had no bearing on his frame of mind.

“I always did like a lot of attention,” Gay said. “If I post something about Mississippi State, people are like, ‘ You must have changed or flipped your commitment or something.’ I’m like, ‘Nah, man, I just like the picture.’”

[Related: Louisiana linebacker solid with Rebels]

Last Wednesday, Gay told the Michigan Rivals.com affiliate: "Michigan is my No. 1 school right now. It's crazy right now."

The 6-foot-1, 203-pounder was one of two high school linebacker commits for the Rebels. The other, three-star Louisiana product Joshua Clarke, said he's "solid" with the Rebels last week.

Ole Miss also has a commitment from Jay Johnson, an East Mississippi defender who projects as an outside linebacker.