Welcome to the second installment of this recruiting series, focusing this offseason on the misses of the 2012 recruiting cycle.  Last week we talked about Stefon Diggs, arguably the biggest miss in the 2012 class.  This week we'll focus on another elite athlete, Davonte Neal, arguably the second biggest miss of the 2012 cycle.

THE RECRUITMENT

Ranked as the 7th best athlete in the nation and the 54th overall prospect, Neal found himself labeled alongside Stefon Diggs as an ideal fit for the Percy Harvin role in Urban Meyer's offense.  The general feeling among Ohio State recruitniks was that we'd be fine getting one of those two guys and that the chances of that happening were pretty high.  In fact, there was an 11W poll that didn't even include the scenario of missing on both.  After all, who wouldn't want to play the Percy Harvin role in Meyer's offense?  Neal also grew up in Akron, OH, before moving to Arizona when he was 9 years old.

One thing I want to make clear before moving on is that with any of these prospects, we'll never know the full story of what actually went on behind the scenes.  My aim is to simply provide you with the story as I remember it through research and my own recollection, using reliable sources as much as possible.

Meyer was able to secure an official visit from Neal on January 13, 2012.  What happened there or shortly after, no one really knows for sure, but there were numerous reports coming out that Neal attempted to commit to the Buckeyes and was denied.

Big news, #OhioState not taking Davonte Neal now
— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) February 1, 2012

I don't have the reason why #OhioState won't be taking Davonte Neal, I just know he tried to commit and couldn't. Well sourced. #RivalsNSD
— Mike Farrell (@rivalsmike) February 1, 2012

Even 11W's own Alex Gleitman seemed confident that Ohio State had cooled on Neal.

Davonte Neal apparently "eliminates" #OhioState ....fails to mention Ohio State eliminates him
— Alex Gleitman (@alexgleitman) February 6, 2012

Why, you ask?  Well, the short answer is we don't know.  But, the first thing that would come to mind is the heavy involvement of Davonte's father, Luke Neal, in his son's recruitment.  Sometimes that's not a terrible thing, but sometimes it is for varying reasons.  Luke Neal went on to deny the rumors of an attempted commitment to Ohio State.

During an in-home visit from Ohio State coach Urban Meyer last week, Luke Neal said he told Meyer that his son was going to take this week to go over the colleges recruiting him before making a decision. At the time, Luke Neal said Meyer would honor his wish and would not contact him during the week, but added a scholarship would be available for him if he decided to go there.

Signing day came and went with no commitment from Neal, which wasn't a surprise.  Neal had more visits he wanted to take.  He eventually decided on a February 21st commitment date, which turned out to be a bizarre day for the elementary school that Neal chose to announce at.  Neal and his family pulled a no-show for his morning time slot, but showed up later that day to announce a commitment to Notre Dame, citing a family emergency as the reason for the no-show.

Following his commitment, Neal apparently had to transfer high schools to get enough credits to graduate.

THE COLLEGE LIFE

After playing primarily as a kick/punt returner for Notre Dame in his true freshman season, Neal chose to transfer back home to play for Arizona and Rich Rodriguez.

“The primary reason I chose Arizona was because it was close to my family and my daughter can come see me every day..."

Neal had to sit out one year due to NCAA transfer rules, but ended up playing wide receiver during his first year with Arizona in 2014, posting 214 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He also had one punt return for touchdown as well.

Prior to his second season at Arizona, they switched Neal over to play cornerback, where he locked down a starting spot in 2015.  His debut was promising, with 11 tackles, one pass breakup, and one blocked field goal.  He ended the season with just 50 tackles and one interception, though.

Neal retained his starting spot to start his final season at Arizona in 2016, but he ended up losing it during the season.  He ended the 2016 season with 21 tackles and one interception.

LIFE AFTER COLLEGE

Neal will likely go undrafted in the upcoming 2017 NFL draft.  I haven't been able to find anything on what he's been up to following his final collegiate season.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

A writer for The Daily Wildcat who played against Neal in high school wrote some hard truths about Neal:

When [Will] Parks signed with Arizona as a two-star prospect in 2012, he was the No. 114 safety in the nation. He was irrelevant out of high school and is now playing for the Denver Broncos while a superstar in Neal can’t even shine at a program like Arizona.

There’s only two explanations: Either Neal was over-hyped coming out high school and should’ve been ranked lower—even below his own teammate Cody Ippolito—or he’s a bust. Either way, his time at Arizona hasn’t been ideal and not anything short of disappointing.

Neal's high school resume was pretty impressive, so I'm going to go with him simply being a bust as the outcome on this one.  I'm not sure we should ever celebrate the shortcomings of an athlete (not named next week's recruit) that we missed on (or maybe denied commitment from), but a sigh of relief is okay in my books.  I imagine the UrbanMeter on this one reads as follows:

UP NEXT: Kyle Kalis