Just spit balling here, but maybe our staff told him that they were also going to sign Martell, if Martell wants to come, and that they couldn't guarantee that Martell wouldn't be competing with him for the starting job as he would either be graduating or pursuing a waiver to play right away.
Or, maybe the staff likes Martell better and felt like Martell wouldn't come if Hurts was coming, so they could have backed off of Hurts.
If the rumors of Martell enrolling are true than that’s just as possible as him just not wanting to come here. Still hard to believe Martell can play next year.