Baby Gronk flipping spree: 11 Power Five schools become revolving choices for young football player since May 10

Madden San Miguel, known as "Baby Gronk," is a young football and social media star. He's become one of the most talked about athletes for his off-field exploits, which apparently are mostly self-promotion. And he has a doozy of a self-promotion going on.

Despite being 11 years old and years away from high school football, let alone signing with a college program, which won't happen until December 2030, Baby Gronk has been on a commitment spree in the past several weeks. After touting that he had picked his top 30 favorite schools in early May, he's committed to at least 11 schools since May 10, flipping each time, according to his X account.

Baby Gronk, who just finished the fifth grade, chose Texas on Wednesday, according to his X account, which touts the elementary school student as a "FOOTBALL CELEBRITY." His account also tweeted the claim this month that he's a five-star prospect in the 2031 class. However, the 247 rankings only go as far out as 2027, before he'd even reach high school.

He chose Tennessee on Friday before swapping to Georgia on Saturday and then Florida on Sunday, Alabama on Monday, Auburn later on Monday and USC on Tuesday before Texas came up on his bingo card on Wednesday.

All of those daily flips, each accompanied by a seemingly photoshopped picture, came after he committed to Ohio State and then Michigan, Colorado and Nebraska between May 10 and 29.

The child has also made visits to many colleges in the past, but none of them are official visits scheduled by the schools as part of the recruiting calendar and process.

Baby Gronk has also committed to LSU, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Missouri.

As with any prospect, any commitment is nonbinding. Plus, no offer has been made from any school, although his father, Jake San Miguel, claimed to The Athletic in June 2023 that Arizona gave his son a verbal offer. The father said that "people in the Power (Five) are going to offer when he gets to seventh grade."

A Bleacher Report article on Tuesday said that schools can't offer a scholarship to a recruit "until a player's junior year of high school."

A February 2023 story in The Oklahoman about the basics of recruiting reported that "according to the NCAA’s eligibility center, an athlete is being recruited if a college coach contacts them off campus, pays for their expenses to visit campus or issues them a national letter of intent or a written offer of financial aid."

Jake San Miguel told The Athletic a year ago that not even assistant coaches were involved in any of his visits.

Why is Baby Gronk doing this?

This strategy of constantly revolving commitments for an 11-year-old is controversial among college football fans. They see all of this as a publicity stunt to raise his profile rather than a way to get real interest from programs. In particular, his March 2023 video that featured a collaboration with LSU gymnastics star Olivia Dunne received backlash.

The strategy has not gone unnoticed by professional athletes, either.

Former NFL tight end and Baby Gronk namesake Rob Gronkowski said on the "Bussin with the Boys" podcast in 2023 that the Baby Gronk situation had gone "too far," and he's worried about how this will affect the child when he is older.

In June, former NFL defensive star J.J. Watt tweeted that "kids should be allowed to be kids" in a response to a post about Baby Gronk.

If Baby Gronk proves himself as a top athlete in high school, he might be able to play for any of the teams that he has committed to. But for now, these commitments mean nothing and are only used to improve his social media following, not his on-field skills.

Do you think that Baby Gronk will one day play for one of these teams?