College recruiting, especially in major sports like football and basketball, can be cutthroat.

The pressure is real, whether it be from coaches, fans via social media, or other recruits.

Tuesday night, Justin Fields, who will be a senior this year at Harrison High School in Kennesaw, Ga., backed out of a verbal commitment he made to Penn State.

The quarterback prospect has seen his recruitment explode over the last year from that of a 4-star recruit to perhaps the most coveted player in the country, with 247Sports, an industry leader, ranking him as its No. 2 overall player nationally in the Class of 2018.

Fields made the news of re-opening his recruitment public via his Twitter page Tuesday evening, and a particular quote towards the end really struck me.

“I know I will disappoint some people by my decision and for that I apologize,” he said.

He shouldn’t have to apologize or feel bad.

Some, mostly deranged fan boys on social media, will rip kids like Fields for doing this. These kids see that, and it adds even more pressure to a decision that for many of them will be the most important decision they have made to this point in their young lives.

I know that the average high school student that isn’t being coveted by many of the top schools in the country would love to trade spots with someone like Fields (and I use him as the example in this case, but obviously there are many others), but with that flattering realization that you excel enough at a sport to have colleges pursue you, there also comes varying degrees of pressure.

We can’t forget that these are 16, 17, 18 year-olds that are still very impressionable and many of whom feel a pressure not to let people down.

Fields committed in December of 2016, just after his football season was complete and with still more than a year until national signing day (before the new early signing period).

I don’t want to deflect any sort of blame when a young man or woman commits to a school that early in the process, but oftentimes a kid will become enamored with a school, a coach a campus without getting to fully experience the full process of picking a school. In other words, and I’m not saying that was the case in this particular instance, but there can be a knee-jerk reaction.

I think it’s very important to make sure that parents, coaches and other influential adults make sure that kids are absolutely sure before they decide to give a commitment to a certain school.

They have every right to back out of that, of course, but that can lead to some bad optics and unwarranted criticism.

Take your time, talk to your parents, your coaches, and don’t feel compelled to make a decision just because certain people who don’t have your best interests at heart are pulling you in all different directions.

Enjoy the process.