Have you ever been “catfished”?

An expression made popular by the MTV show Catfish, it is when someone online assumes a fake identity and fools another person into thinking they are real. It’s usually a term associated with online dating, but now the infamous expression has made its way into the world of college football recruiting.

Meet Houshun Gaines. The Nash Central (NC) defensive end committed to the Florida Gators last Friday during a ceremony in front of family and friends. The news had broke all over social media. To Gaines, his dream of playing college football had finally come true.

That is until Gaines realized it was all fake.

According to College Spun, he had first been contacted via social media by a man he thought to be Brad Lawing, Florida’s defensive line coach. After about a month and a half of communication between he and “Lawing” Gaines had heard enough. He wanted to be a Gator and he committed last Friday.

Unfortunately for Gaines, it turns out who he thought was Brad Lawing was actually just a person on social media posing as the Florida coach. In the Rocky Mountain Telegram report, the news of Gaines’ commitment to the Gators came as a shock to the coaching staff when they landed in Knoxville on Friday night.

Eventually, Gaines was able to speak with someone on Florida’s staff and get the whole story. After finding out he hadn’t really been communicating with Lawing, Gaines announced he had withdrawn his commitment to Florida via his Twitter account.

While it must be a devastating turn of events for the high school prospect, he seems to be taking it all in stride as he moves on with his recruitment.

The Gators are interested in Gaines, but clearly not as much as he initially believed. He also holds offers from Miami, Boston College, Virginia Tech and Duke, among others.