Davonte Neal: Twitter Explodes When Top Recruit Skips Announcement Conference

The last remaining recruit from the 2012 recruiting class is, well, still remaining.

Davonte Neal of Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Ariz., was supposed to announce his decision today from his former elementary school, but he never showed up.

Inna Lazarev of Fox Sports/Scout tweeted the official news:

"

It's official: He's not coming.

— Inna Lazarev (@InnaLazarev) February 21, 2012"

Rumors indicate that Neal wants to choose Arizona while his father wants him to attend Notre Dame. The other two schools in the running, Arkansas and North Carolina, appear to be afterthoughts at this point.

Press conference announcements from high school prospects have been an interesting debate for quite some time. The reaction from Neal standing up 600 elementary school students won't look kindly on him.

Yahoo's Pat Forde cut right to the chase, tweeting:

"

This Davonte Neal non-press conference sounds like one of the great fiascos in recent recruiting history. And that's saying something.

— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) February 21, 2012"

We knew it was going to be an interesting few weeks when Neal announced that he wouldn't be announcing on national signing day, and now it has simply turned ugly.

Point Guard U reported this morning that Neal verbally committed to Arizona, but his father literally said no:

"

Sad. Davonte Neal gave his verbal commitment to UA today and his dad wouldn't allow it

— Point Guard U (@UofAPointGuardU) February 21, 2012"

Sportscaster Tim Ring doesn't find it very sad. In fact, he thinks it is despicable:

"

What Davonte Neal and his father just did is inexplicable and despicable.Arizona and Notre Dame should pull their offers.

— Tim Ring (@timring3TV) February 21, 2012"

That course of action may be uncalled for, though. While a student-athlete's education is a family decision, there is no denying it should ultimately have been Davonte's call and Davonte's call alone.

That time has come and gone, though, and the damage has already been done. Even if Neal winds up signing with Arizona, this debacle will be remembered for some time.

As always, the comics have come out in force as well.

Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports tweets:

"

You can be mad at Davonte Neal if you want, but I'd like to thank him for not making it official before Real Madrid/CSKA Moscow started.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) February 21, 2012"

Michael Rhaney, a fan, tweets:

"

Davonte Neal didn't show up for his own press conference to announce his college decision. Even Lebron was impressed. #nextlevel

— Michael Rhaney (@rhaneym) February 21, 2012"

Jordan Hamm tweets:

"

Friday Night Lights couldn't write something as weird as the Davonte Neal situation

— Jordan Hamm (@JordyHamm) February 21, 2012"

And Seattle Times beat writer Bob Condotta tweets:

"

Well, you can't say that Davonte Neal isn't continuing to show great elusiveness.

— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) February 21, 2012"

This situation has no silver lining. What started as a great idea for Neal to give back to his community and the school where he got his start has ended in embarrassment. The ESPNU 5-star athlete may or may not be to blame for it, but his name is now linked with one of the great failures in high school recruiting in recent memory.

The Davonte Neal recruitment obviously isn't over, and there certainly will be more reaction from this before long.