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GRABBED: How the flip of a No. 1 FSU recruit on signing day will forever change college football
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- GRABBED: How the flip of a No. 1 FSU recruit on signing day will forever change college football
Florida State fell victim to perhaps the most shocking moment in college football recruiting history Wednesday.
Travis Hunter – the No. 1 ranked overall recruit in the 2022 class – had been locked into his FSU verbal commitment for nearly two years. He was set to anchor a class that could have been the Seminoles' first top-10 class in five years.
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Instead, the Suwanee, Georgia, five-star cornerback shocked perhaps the entire collegiate landscape when he announced he was flipping his pledge to sign and play for Jackson State and head coach Deion Sanders, the former FSU legend.
The implications both in the college football world and for FSU are seismic.
"This is the biggest signing day moment in the history of college football," said Steve Wiltfong, director of national recruiting for 247Sports, who first reported that Hunter's flip was possible.
The big Travis Hunter news: No. 1 player in 2022 class Travis Hunter flips from Florida State to Jackson State
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Seminoles fan upset: This Seminoles fan is hot about losing the nation's top recruit. Watch him burn his Deion Sanders jersey.
A win for HBCUs and changing the game with name, image and likeness
In the college football realm, Hunter becomes the highest-ranked college football recruit to ever sign with an HBCU team. Sanders signed a few prominent recruits in his first full recruiting class at JSU last year. Additionally, five-star basketball center Makur Maker signed with Howard University's 2020 class.
But the landing of Hunter is a landmark moment for HBCU athletics.
On Tuesday, Sanders had indicated on his on Barstool's Unnecessary Roughness podcast that JSU planned to make major news.
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"I'm going on record to tell you guys we're going to shock the country," Sanders said. "I'm telling you right now. You've heard it from me. We're going to shock the country."
The wild card of this situation is that this is the first football signing period after the new name, image and likeness (NIL) legislation went into effect at the start of July.
It would be naive, according to coaches, to think that no money was ever previously exchanged in order to land a high-profile recruit. Cheating has been confirmed by the NCAA and schools across sports over the years.
But there's no doubt that the new NIL legislation has changed the recruiting landscape dramatically. On the positive side, it allows college athletes to make money they were previously unable to on advertisements, promotions and for charitable causes. However, it also opens the doors for school affiliates to raise money in an effort to land commitments.
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"It's definitely changed some of the dynamics in recruiting and obviously the decision-making process with student-athletes," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said.
"I think when you look at all factors that are involved in that decision, whether it's facilities, whether it's the program, location, education, all of the things that kids are looking at, that's also playing a big part.
That may have been the case for Hunter, who it has been speculated is receiving a $1 million-plus-dollar deal with Barstool Sports to sign with JSU. Sanders is a content creator for the site.
Coaches nationally have been vocal about name, image and likeness and how the new NIL rules are affecting their staffs and teams. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, for example, said earlier this year he thought the legislation could be "tied more to the education process so everybody would have had a little more opportunity."
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While former FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said he doesn't know the details surrounding the legislation, he is relieved that NIL deals weren't part of the recruiting process during his career.
"It makes it harder," Andrews told the Democrat. "Kids come to school to get an education, to develop young men and young women. You want to give them all the advantages you can. At the same time, you don't want to create certain problems."
There is much about NIL that must still be figured out.
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While some states like Florida created laws to govern it before it was instituted, other states did not. Despite urging from those in college football for the NCAA to create a specific set of rules, the NCAA introduced a largely vague, laissez-faire set of policies, allowing for gray areas like this.
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It was reported earlier this week that the NCAA has begun investigating a few NIL situations at BYU and Miami stemming from outside deals covering portions of or the entirety of their football teams.
It will be worth watching how the NCAA proceeds with this Jackson State situation. But it bears mentioning that this seems to be well within the current guidelines as they stand.
Whatever comes of that, FSU representative Chip LaMarca, who introduced the state's original NIL bill, filed a new bill Wednesday in the aftermath of Hunter's flip.
FSU seemed to be one of the NIL trailblazers with its Apex NIL program it launched back in April in coordination with INFLCR.
'This is the season we are in'
A group of former Seminoles – including FSU Heisman winner Charlie Ward and FSU linebacker legend Derrick Brooks – and a few former Seminole Boosters employees announced last week they were launching Rising Spear in an effort to help FSU student-athletes find NIL opportunities.
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"It is unfortunate he (Hunter) chose to flip, however, this is the season we are in with all things in play from NIL to facilities to where you can win possible championships, etc." Ward told the Democrat.
"I am a big believer people make decisions and if you have done all you can do, then you have to live with the outcome. I know FSU lost a valuable recruit that could have been a great asset. But they will continue to find the next best player to help develop into the type of player that will help them compete for championships.
"The transfer portal was kind to them last year, so I know that is part of the recruiting process as well."
The NIL deal wasn't the only factor in Hunter's decision, which also stemmed from his desire to be a trailblazer among top recruits going to HBCUs. But it does show the catching up FSU has to do in this new college football landscape.
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A brutal loss for FSU at a clutch moment
As for the future of FSU football and head coach Mike Norvell, there's no doubt this is a brutal loss at the worst possible moment.
Even though the Seminoles finished this season with a losing record for the fourth straight season, there were reasons for optimism. A lot of that optimism stemmed from how locked in Hunter was to FSU and how he was expected to anchor a recruiting class that was going to potentially finish in the top 10-nationally.
With Hunter's departure from the class, it fell from 11th to 20th in 247Sports' composite class rankings.
It probably hurts the FSU fanbase that one of their own in Sanders pulled this off. He was the guy that small but vocal portion of the fanbase wanted to hire instead of Norvell back in 2019 despite the fact that he had no prior head coaching experience at the collegiate level.
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Back story: Deion Sanders serious about being a college football head coach next season
Barstool Sports President Dave Portnoy tweeted as much after Hunter's announcement saying, "They coulda had Deion and let him go. Now he's kicking their ass."
Entering the early signing period, this was viewed as an extremely important recruiting class for Norvell's longevity at FSU. He could survive long-term at FSU despite Hunter's shocking decision, but it's a significant blow to the chances of that and was complicated further by a few other key recruiting misses at positions of significant need Wednesday.
One of the crazier aspects is that there doesn't seem to be much Norvell and his staff could have done differently in Hunter's recruitment. If this was about Hunter's lack of belief in FSU's trajectory, he would have flipped to a school like Georgia.
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That he made the move he did speaks to Hunter's desire to be a trailblazer on the HBCU football scene, plus the reported deal. However, that surely lends no consolation to a fanbase that feels embarrassed on a national scale by how things played out.
FSU now seems destined for a fourth straight recruiting class outside the top 15 nationally. It may have a third straight recruiting class outside the top 20.
If Norvell doesn't work out at FSU long-term, this is undeniably one of the moments to look back at. But it's an even bigger moment in the college football landscape.
Reach Curt Weiler at cweiler@tallahassee.com or follow him on Twitter @CurtMWeiler.
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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Travis Hunter signing day surprise rocks FSU, college football
