Darrian McNeal will no longer suit up for the Arizona Wildcats in 2017.

Call it the Willie Taggart Effect.

As recently as two weeks ago, McNeal was tweeting his plans to "bring Arizona back to life."

Sunday, he announced on Twitter that he'd be flipping his commitment to the Oregon Ducks.

So what happened?

Well, last week Taggart was hired from South Florida to replaceΒ Mark Helfrich as Oregon's head coach, and one of Taggart's first orders of business was to offer McNeal a scholarship. McNeal, from Armwood High School in Seffner, Florida, had verbally committed to Arizona back in July, picking the UA over, amongst others, USF. Arizona beat out Taggart the first time around, but couldn't stave him off with the resources and prestige that comes with coaching at Oregon.

Just last week, Arizona safeties coachΒ Jahmile Addae was in Florida (one of his recruiting areas) for a multi-day visit checking in with McNeal, and receivers coachΒ Tony DewsΒ eventually joined him. Addae was McNeal's lead recruiter.Β 

McNeal was on track to enroll early at Arizona in time for spring drills, and was planning on rooming with four-star quarterback commitΒ Braxton Burmeister.

With his departure, the Wildcats are down to 24 commitments in the 2017 class. There are three receivers left in the class:Β Warren Jackson,Β Brian Casteel andΒ Drew Dixon, the Sabino product who's listed as an "athlete" but expected to play at receiver in college.Β 

Jackson is another recruit to keep an eye on, as he's been receiving heavy interest from Washington State and plans to take visits elsewhere, too.

McNeal is listed at 5-10 and 175 pounds, and is best known for his speed. Scout.com has him rated the No. 79 receiver in the South and No. 30 in Florida. 

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