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Another member of Dan Mullen’s vaunted 2019 class bites the dust.

Some news involving four-star #UF OL signee, now going the JC route. Hammond is the fourth member of Gators 2019 class who won't be with the program, following top signee Chris Steele and fellow four-stars Diwun Black and Jalon Jones. https://t.co/3GcURAk6Gv

— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) July 6, 2019

Eh, who needs four-star offensive linemen, anyway?

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They thought they could have it all.

So, Finebaum asks a Twitter question.

Big issue today is college football attendance. Why are the numbers declining?

— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) July 5, 2019

And gets this in response.

1. Great TVs are inexpensive and *every* game is televised
2. Home cooking/smoking more and more affordable
3. Eh stadium experiences
4. Looking at CFB through lens of CFBP has hurt the sport
5. Youth sports happen on Saturdays w/ a ton of travel
6. Other sports
7. Toilets https://t.co/DpZMoj8Vw6

— The Solid Verbal (@SolidVerbal) July 6, 2019

Number four in particular.

Hard for schools to chase TV money to help fund programs and have the sport turn into a national TV sport and then ask, “WAIT WHERE’D EVERYONE GO????”

Can’t have it all ¯_(ツ)_/¯

— The Solid Verbal (@SolidVerbal) July 6, 2019

I know many of you are convinced that player payment is what’s going to ruin college football, but as far as I’m concerned, the death spiral began when the people running the sport took the knee and accepted Mickey’s coin on the condition that college football lose its regional focus and attractiveness and chase national appeal in its place.

What’s good for Mickey decidedly isn’t for college football.  Too bad it’ll take the geniuses running college athletics at least another decade before that message really sinks in.  Of course, by then it’ll be way too late… for us.

“He might not play high school football until the fall of 2020.”

LANGSTON WERTZ JR. LWERTZ@CHARLOTTEOBSERVER.COM

But that hasn’t stopped the kid from scoring offers from Alabama and Georgia.

This is how fast it is. On a Saturday in early June, Davis went to a camp in Athens and showed his talent in front of Georgia coaches. After the camp, he met with Bulldogs quarterbacks coach, James Coley, and was surprised with an offer.

Four days later, Davis was at a similar camp at Alabama. When it was over, Saban gave him an offer.

“I’ve always dreamed of this as a kid,” Davis said, “and when they told me I got an offer, I was like, ‘Dreams really do come true.’ I didn’t expect it. I felt like they see my work ethic at this age and how much potential I have. I haven’t proven anything yet. I haven’t touched a high school field yet. But they haven’t seen anything yet. I’m telling you that.”

The best part of this story?  He hasn’t even won the starting job on the high school team yet.

Name that caption, we run this state edition

Richard LeCounte, feelin’ it.

Jeff Sentell/DawgNation

That day, he wasn’t wrong.