US Army All-American DT Trey Lealaimatafao de-commits from the Texas Longhorns

The tweet came 20 minutes after this offering from the 6’0, 300-pounder:

The US Army All-American defensive tackle had told SB Nation Recruiting last week at the US Army All-American Bowl that he was in a holding pattern until something happened with the head coaching position at Texas.

“I want to see who comes in, first of all, and see if my position coach is going to be there,” Lealaimatafao said.

New head coach Charlie Strong is now in place after his official hiring on Sunday, but defensive tackle coach Bo Davis will not be remaining on staff after taking the same job with the USC Trojans on Tuesday. The defection killed any chances of Lealaimatafao sticking with the Horns, as his relationship with Davis was a big part of the reason for his commitment in the first place.

“It’s a really good relationship with him,” he said. “My whole family has a good relationship with him. He was a big reason for my commitment. I liked him from the jump, as soon as I met him, we were chopping it up when we first talked -- he was a real cool dude.”

And so Lealaimatafao is now considering three schools to which he took official visits in the fall and one school he still has yet to visit. When rumors of the potential coaching changes in Austin started to circulate, Lealaimatafao started to consider taking other visits.

“I was talking to those schools before I committed and I decided that if anything happened, I was going to visit them.”

The first school that received a visit was Ole Miss, but the Rebels don’t appear to have a strong chance of landing him based on his comments.

“It was a little town and I don’t really like little towns, but it was a good feeling there,” said the near four-star prospect.

The Sun Devils seemed to make a more positive impression, though he didn’t mention anything about the football program.

“They’re just live. It’s a fun town,” he said, his face lighting up.

The appeal for the Bruins appears to be Los Angeles.

“It’s a big networking city, so if you go there and graduate, you can get a job out of school.”

The final visit for the San Antonio product will be the final one -- his trip out to Oregon on January 17.

“Oh, I like the Ducks. I’m going to visit them on the 17th. They’re a fast-paced offense and a fast-paced defense. They play a 3-4 and that’s not my type of defense, but I feel like I could fit in anywhere.”

The Ducks are recruiting him as a nose tackle, which doesn’t seem like the best fit given his ability to disrupt opposing offensive backfields with his penetrating ability -- he projects the best as a three-technique defensive tackle. However, if he adds 20-30 pounds, he could certainly be effective lining up over centers.

Clearly, fit is not the biggest consideration for Lealaimatafao considering that his 247Sports Crystal Ball projections all have him headed to Oregon. A large part of those projections result from his relationship with 247Sports five-star cornerback Arrion Springs, another San Antonio product who has been committed to the Ducks since The Opening last summer. The two are close friends and Springs has been singing the praises of Oregon to Lealaimatafao.

Once the big defensive tackle gets back from that trip, he will have a discussion with his parents about his decision.

“I’m going to sit down with my parents and discuss the pros and cons of every school and then go ahead and pick which one I feel the most comfortable at,” he said.

After that, Lealaimatafao will make his announcement on January 28 at his high school.

With his de-commitment, the Longhorns have 22 pledges in the 2014 class, which ranks No. 12 nationally in the 247Sports Composite team rankings.

• To die at the Rose Bowl: Spencer Hall on the last BCS Championship

• Plot twists and the ends: Bill Connelly on the Championship’s numbers

• Florida State: The SEC’s worst nightmare

• How FSU and Auburn were built: Why recruiting matters so much

• College football news | Final Top 25 led by FSU, Auburn, Michigan State

• Long CFB reads | The death of a college football player