ESPN Recruiting Nation Football

Rising senior kicker Alex Spence (Florence, S.C./West) committed to Clemson on Friday, according to multiple reports.

According to SCNow.com, Spence connected on 11 of 12 field-goal attempts and averaged 39 yards per punt during his junior season.

Duke, Furman, NC State, South Carolina and Wake Forest also recruited the 6-foot-2, 185-pound prospect.

The Tigers now have 11 verbals for 2014. Their class is ranked 10th in the country by ESPN RecruitingNation.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- ESPN 150 athlete J.C. Jackson committed to Florida during a visit to the team's summer camp on Saturday, less than a week after decommitting from Florida State.

Jackson, who is ranked No. 48 overall in the nation, picked the Gators over offers from Clemson, Ohio State and Tennessee. His pledge caps what was an extended flirtation with UF, as Jackson made multiple visits to Gainesville while he was an FSU commit and wore Gator gear to the IMG Southeast Regional 7-on-7 Championships in April.

Jackson said the opportunity to play in the SEC is what ultimately led to his decision.

"It was my best option, so I just went ahead and committed," Jackson said. "They were telling me the same things they have told me but I just felt it was time to do it. They sent a defensive back to the league, Matt Elam, and they have a lot of defensive backs in the leage that came from Florida."

The former FSU commit said Florida fans can rest easy -- he claims his pledge to Florida is rock solid.

"It is very solid commit," Jackson said. "I'm going to stick with the Gators. I was committed to Florida State for a while and I thought I was going to go there, too. But with Florida, I'm going to stick with Florida. I'm not going nowhere else. It's the SEC, the best. I have a chance to probably start if I come here and work."

Jackson, said Florida coaches Will Muschamp, D.J. Durkin and Travaris Robinson were ecstatic to learn of his commitment.

"They started yelling and got happy," he said. "Muschamp, T-Rob, Durkin ... they were all happy."

In the 6-foot, 185-pound Jackson, the Gators will get a standout athlete they see as a cornerback at the next level.

"I'm going to come here and work," he said, "and try to win a national championship."

Jackson is commit No. 9 in Florida's Class of 2014, joining RB Dalvin Cook, QB Will Grier and DT Anthony Moten as ESPN 150 pledges.

ESPN 150 wide receiver Demarre Kitt (Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek) had planned on waiting until June 10 to announce his decision, but after taking a visit on Wednesday, the No. 99 prospect in the country could not wait any longer.

"I had to go ahead and commit," Kitt said. "I knew last night after I visited, so I woke up this morning and called coach [Jeff] Scott, coach [Chad] Morris and coach [Dabo] Swinney and committed to Clemson. They were all really excited."

May has been a huge month for Clemson as far as recruiting momentum, with four 4-star prospects in Georgia making their commitments to the Tigers. Tight end Milan Richard (Savannah, Ga./Calvary Baptist) committed on May 8, running back Adam Choice (Thomasville, Ga./Thomas County Central) committed on May 22, and linebacker Korie Rogers (Buford, Ga./Buford) committed on Wednesday night. Kitt felt everything was falling into place, so he added his name to the list.

"It is close to home for us and they have a great coaching staff, so we feel like we have a chance to win national championships," Kitt said. "Me and Deshaun (Watson) are going to try and replace Sammy Watkins and Tajh Boyd and break records there."

Kitt selected Clemson over Ohio State, among dozens of other offers. Proximity to home and a familiarity with a coaching staff that has made him a recruiting priority pushed the Tigers over the edge when it came time to make a decision, one which Kitt says is final. He was previously committed to Georgia a year ago, but opened things up last October, and over time the Bulldogs faded as schools like Clemson, Tennessee and Ohio State emerged as the frontrunners for the 6-foot, 196-pound wideout.

"It is really exciting to be committed to Clemson," Kitt said. "Their staff said they were relieved to know they got their top guy, and I do not plan to visit any other schools."

Clemson now has nine commitments, five from Georgia and four from South Carolina. Eight of the nine commitments are projected to play on the offensive side of the ball.

Deshaun Watson (Gainesville, Ga./Gainesville) has been committed to Clemson for over a year, since signing day in February 2012. But that has not stopped other programs from recruiting the No. 1 quarterback prospect in the ESPN 150, even though he said last month he was done with recruiting.

Mike Bobo and Cam Cameron, offensive coordinators from Georgia and LSU, respectively, visited Gainesville to watch Watson, ESPN's 13th-rated prospect, during spring practice. Alabama offered Watson after Crimson Tide offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier evaluated him earlier this month. With his status as an elite quarterback talent, none of that was earth-shattering news.

This past weekend, though, things got a little interesting. With Auburn hosting its annual recruiting event known as "Big Cat Weekend," Twitter reports emerged that Watson was in Auburn. Watson tweeted Friday evening that he was not at Auburn.

He later denied to various reporters his presence on the Plains, as did his head coach, Bruce Miller. But on Tuesday evening, Miller had a different story for ESPN.

“We have been out of school since May 18, so I gave our kids the time off before we start back at workouts this morning,” Miller said. “I did not have any contact with him last week. I get a call Friday night from Coach [Chad] Morris at Clemson Friday evening asking if I knew anything about Deshaun visiting Auburn [that day]. I told him I had no idea about it and I started investigating. He calls me back later saying his source was pretty good on him being at Auburn. Of course, Deshaun had denied it so I denied it too.”

Watson was denying it, but in fact he had made a trip to the SEC campus Thursday afternoon with an assistant coach, which Miller said was done without his knowledge. According to Miller, Watson mentioned to one of his assistant coaches that Auburn had been in contact and he had interest in visiting. The assistant was attending a graduation in Prattville, Ala., about an hour away from Auburn, over the weekend, so he dropped off Watson. Miller said Watson acknowledged the visit to him at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“Deshaun told me he visited Auburn and that he did not know what he was thinking,” Miller said. “Deshaun felt sorry about it and said he got talked into it at a weak moment because he had never seen it. He said he realized after he got there that he should not have made the visit. He said, 'I then started trying to figure out how I could cover it up.'”

ESPN 150 commits denying visiting other schools is nothing new. Last January Trey Johnson (Lawrenceville, Ga./Central Gwinnett) visited Tennessee just a few weeks after committing to Ohio State at the Under Armour All-America Game. Johnson denied it during the weekend of the visit, but it was later revealed he was in Knoxville checking out the Volunteers. In the end, he signed with the Buckeyes, though. 2013 ESPN 150 defensive end Chris Jones denied multiple visits to Ole Miss last January while being committed to Mississippi State, later admitting he made the visits but was afraid to say anything because of death threats.

While those “secret visits” were a few weeks before signing day, Watson’s trip is unique because there are more than seven months before he can enroll early at the college of his choice.

Like Johnson and Jones, it appears Watson is solid in his commitment at the moment. He was able to talk to the Tigers’ coaching staff on Tuesday in hopes of getting back on the same page.

“Deshaun says he did not see anything [at Auburn] that makes me question anything and he is not changing his commitment,” Miller said. “He talked to Dabo Swinney and Chad Morris today and everything is fine now. They told him No. 1 is that Deshaun’s word is his word and that he will need to earn back a little bit of their trust. When you mess up one time you have to circle back and do right again, which Deshaun will have no problem with.”

Miller said ha will take a more hands-on approach to keeping up with his prize quarterback, who set the state record for career passing yards last fall while leading the Red Elephants to their first state title.

“From now on our recruiting coach, Wayne Jones, and I will be handling his recruitment,” Miller said. “I think he and all of us have learned our lesson in social media, and I do not think Deshaun Watson will take any more visits.”

Two days after adding versatile in-state running back C.J. Fuller (Easley, S.C./Easley), Clemson has received a commitment from another multifaceted athlete, this time from the Peach State.

Four-star prospect Adam Choice (Thomasville, Ga./Thomas County Central) ran for 1,650 yards rand 23 touchdowns his junior season and had 1,600 rushing yards rushing and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore but did his damage running the option at quarterback. The 5-foot-9, 198-pound Choice is also a standout baseball player. At the next level, Choice has decided to make plays for Dabo Swinney and his staff.

"I committed to Clemson," Choice said. "I felt like I belonged when I went up there."

Choice gives Clemson seven commitments for the 2014 class, all on the offensive side of the ball. He joins ESPN 150 quarterback Deshaun Watson (Gainesville, Ga./Gainesville) and four-star tight end Milan Richard (Savannah, Ga./Calvary Day) as Clemson commitments from Georgia. The other four all hail from South Carolina. The Tigers could add a fourth offensive commitment from Georgia next month when EPSN 150 wide receiver Demarre Kitt (Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek) is set to make his decision.