When a top quarterback prospect reopens his recruitment, the college football world takes notice. That's exactly what happened when Port Charlotte standout Logan Flaherty decided to step back from his UCF commitment this spring.

Flaherty, ranked No. 80 overall in the Florida Top 100 for the class of 2027, originally pledged to the Knights back in October. But after a breakout junior campaign that saw him throw for 2,636 yards and 27 touchdowns while leading the Pirates to an 11-3 record and a regional championship, his stock skyrocketed. An impressive showing on the camp circuit only added fuel to the fire.

"Obviously I had a lot of love for (UCF), and things just didn't work out the way I wanted them to work out," Flaherty explained. "So for me it's not restarting the process entirely, but making sure I go through the process the right way. When I opened it back up, I was flooded. A lot of schools were reaching back out."

That flood included visits to Georgia Tech, Memphis, USF, Florida, UCF, and Rutgers this spring. Now, with a decision expected in the next two to three weeks, two programs have separated themselves from the pack.

"Rutgers and Florida State are the big two right now," Flaherty said. "I would say they're at the top."

The Scarlet Knights have been particularly aggressive since offering the 6-foot-2, 185-pound signal-caller on Feb. 2. "Ever since Rutgers offered me, they've been all over me," Flaherty noted. "I would say Rutgers has been the most consistent and talking to me two-to-three times a week. When I went up to the visit, they gave me the full show. They've been the most consistent from January to now."

While some might question Rutgers' historical track record, Flaherty isn't buying the narrative. He sees head coach Greg Schiano's blueprint and believes the program is on the rise. "Obviously people are going to look at the record in past years and think they've been mediocre," he said. "But I do research. Google is free, anyone can do research, so I go on there and research—and where Schiano had them in his first term there, I think that he's set on building it back."