He committed early along with Brandon Washington and one other guy. Like shortly after signing day in 2007.
When he committed, he was a big name in South Florida but not nationally. The following summer, his dad started taking him around to all these random camps to show him off (i.e., to get paid) and that's where he really blew up. He went to USC and I think named USC his leader while a UM commit, lol. Also went to camp at Texas A&M. At that point, most people started thinking that he wasn't just playing the game but was looking for the highest bidder. It made no sense that a kid from South Florida, who was committed to UM and had offers from everyone by that point, would be going to camps at schools like TAMU. It was absurdly obvious that he was beings hopped. He kept claiming he was committed to UM but it became clear he wasn't going to UM. Took a visit to LSU, kept mentioning LSU--LSU was the high bidder. It's really not even a question.
A few years later, a Texas A&M coach said on the record that he was told they had to beat like $85,000 for Patrick Johnson/Peterson. Of course, nothing happened to LSU.
Willie Lyles asked Texas A&M for $80K to sign recruit Patrick Peterson