Bielema catches commits by surprise 

December, 4, 2012
12/04/12
7:46
PM ET
Sojourn Shelton had just finished walking Charlie Partridge to the front office of Plantation (Fla.) High School on Tuesday and was on his way back to classes. Right after the two went their separate ways, the four-star Shelton and Partridge, a Wisconsin assistant coach, received the news, and Partridge gave Shelton a call.

"We noticed [Partridge's] phone kept lighting up, but he was with me so he didn't pay attention to it," Shelton said Tuesday night. "We walked to the front office, he went his way to his car, and I checked Twitter and someone retweeted something about coach [Bret] Bielema leaving. I was thinking maybe it was a rumor. So I clicked on a couple profiles and saw it was true."

Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema is on his way to Arkansas, and no one involved -- recruits, families, coaches -- saw it coming. This was not Urban Meyer to Ohio State. There were no talks of a change for weeks, days or even hours to give everyone involved a sense of inevitably.

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