Marco Wilson explains what he was thinking before costly shoe toss penalty against LSU
It’s fair to say one penalty cost Marco Wilson more than most players will ever lose on a single penalty.
That tends to happen when you cost your team a shot at the College Football Playoff and a win in a big rivalry game with a completely unforced error.
So what exactly was going on in Wilson’s head before he tossed the shoe of LSU’s Kole Taylor? He shared that information for the first time publicly with Elizabeth Merrill of ESPN leading up to Florida’s Pro Day.
“In that type of energy, what did people expect?” Wilson said. “Like I was going to hand it back nicely to him? I was super excited and I threw it. I didn’t purposely do it; it was just a reaction. It went pretty far. I mean, I didn’t think it would go that far. But it did.”
How much of a price should a player pay for such a mistake? According to Wilson, he’s received harassment and death threats after Florida lost to LSU.
At one point, it got so bad, Wilson claims online trolls tracked down his girlfriend and started leaving her harassment on social media. She doesn’t even attend Florida, she plays soccer at Vanderbilt.
Unfortunately for Wilson, he will likely be remembered for the penalty until he makes people forget it by his performance in the NFL.
That’s a tight ship down there at the I-75 Truck Stop
Yeah, he threw a shoe. Far, far worse than getting 15 yards for squirting an opposing player with a water bottle, or starting a fight with a defender when his team was in the red zone.
I find myself in unfamiliar territory here. But, honestly. I’m pretty sure he feels bad enough and it’s over!!! Like he said. How much do you pay for a mistake????? Well now he knows.
Either way. He didn’t cost Florida a playoff spot. In fact want the truth??? He probably made it MUCH EASIER AGAINST ALABAMA THAN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN!!!! Alabama absolutely took Florida lightly. They thought if LSU that we crushed can beat Florida. We are home free!!!! Now if Florida wins instead of loses. Could be a different situation. Then Alabama comes more prepared and blows Florida out!!! Florida would still score. But Alabama would have stopped them more. Alabama wasn’t prepared.
Another thing that needs to be said. MARCO WILSON DIDN’T LOSE THAT GAME FOR FLORIDA!!! THE WHOLE DEFENSE DID!!!! If Florida could have played better defense. They are likely never even in that situation.
And Dan Mullen had some clock management issues himself. He didn’t coach a perfect game. LSU just decided they weren’t going to lose!!!! Dan Mullen should have seen it coming but instead he looked past them!!!
I’m probably the only man in America that actually predicted that 3 WIN LSU BEATS FLORIDA IN THE SWAMP!!! I should have put money on it. I also said Florida will lose at least 4 games. I predicted it after the cocktail party. I said FLORIDA WOULD LOSE THEIR LAST 3 STARTING WITH LSU!!!! I SAID ALABAMA WILL LOOK PAST FLORIDA AND FLORIDA WILL PLAY THEM TO THE LAST WHISTLE AND IT HAPPENED!!!
I EVEN PREDICTED THAT FLORIDA WOULD PLAY EITHER MICHIGAN OR OU IN A BOWL GAME. AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON. AFTER THE COCKTAIL PARTY. I SAID IT WOULD BE OU!!!! AND I PREDICTED OU WOULD DESTROY THEM!!!! Because I figured that Florida would be short a few players. But I predicted it mainly because I know how Florida brags!!! And I figured OU would be out for blood. OU is a pretty decent team!!!!
Either way. Marco Wilson has paid enough and ITS OVER!!!! No point in continuing to harass him. Hopefully he learned a valuable couple of lessons. First control your excitement. That is part of being great. Then remember that the fans only love you when your playing and making plays!!!! THERE IS AN EXTREMELY THIN LINE BETWEEN LOVE AND HATE. ESPECIALLY WITH FLORIDA FANS!!!!
ITS JUST THE TRUTH!!!!!!
PS. Time to move on!!!!!!
Negan
Tight enough to beat the school out in the middle-of-nowhere Georgia…
@Stepe………I hate to keep reminding you. But y’all didn’t play Georgia! So you sure didn’t beat them!!!! If playing 80% backup players and missing your best players on both ends of the ball. If that counts in your mind. Then yea you beat Georgia. In reality you beat the UGA B TEAM!!!
UGA might have had 2 or 3 starters out there. Others were mostly backups and even third and fourth string players!!! THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITION IS QB. YOU WERE PLAYING A 5TH STRING WALK ON QB THAT IS LISTED AT 5.11 BUT HE’S CLOSER TO 5.9 OR 5.10!!!!
No Florida didn’t beat UGA! If you did. THEN OU RAPED FLORIDA!!! AND DON’T GIVE EXCUSES!!! Because y’all easily had 50% more of your starting team playing than UGA did!!! EASILY!!!!!!
PS. Florida didn’t want any of the real Georgia. Unless you enjoy losing!!!!!
Negan
Cut the kid some slack.
“In that type of energy, what did people expect?” Sportsmanship.
“Like I was going to hand it back nicely to him? Uh…yes.
I got a great laugh out of this one.
He could have just dropped it. But it’s over and hopefully he learned.
Negan
“Unfortunately for Wilson, he will likely be remembered for the penalty because nobody remembers undrafted free agents in the NFL.”
FIFY
“What he was thinking”….obviously he was not-thinking.
He “didn’t purposefully do it”?
He may want to see a neurologist. He must have Parkinson’s disease and no control over his muscles.
Eye roll.
He clearly learned nothing, and is still defending his mistake. Time to grow up, kid,
@mrtruth……….Now don’t get too mad at him for his attitude. Remember Dan Mullen is brassy & has a big mouth. Players take on the personality of THE COACH!!!!!!
Mullen didn’t look a bit sorry for THE HUGE FIGHT that he helped get started and helped to continue!!!! Wearing a Darth Vader costume is not saying your sorry!!!! It’s saying. Here I am in your face!!! I’m the bad guy. Look at me!!!!!!!
It was an obvious POKE AT UGA!!!! Because UGA has been referred to as THE DEATH-STAR OF THE EAST!!!! And Mullen was saying HA HA WE BEAT THE DEATH-STAR!!!! But Mullen makes a wonderful Darth Vader.
All star wars fans remember after Luke destroys the DEATH-STAR. VADER GOES SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL INTO THE UNIVERSE!!!! EXACTLY LIKE MULLEN IS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL NOW AND THIS SEASON!!!!
MULLEN IS KNOWN FOR SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!! HE KNOWS IT TO. THAT IS EXACTLY WHY LAST SEASON. HE CHOSE TO PLAY UVA IN A NEW YEARS 6 BOWL!!!!! UVA DID NOT BELONG IN THAT BOWL. EVEN WORSE. THEY PLAYED IT IN FLORIDA!!!!!!
PS. Mullen wanted a guaranteed bowl win. And he got laughed at over that bowl. So this year tough guy decided to play OU. Because OU can score but their defense was similar to Florida. So Mullen thought I’ll play OU and get a big win. And I’ll say. WE DESERVED TO BE IN THE PLAYOFFS. LOOK WE BEAT OU WHO IS A PLAYOFF TEAM EVERY SEASON. BUT WHAT HAPPENED INSTEAD????
DARTH VADER IS SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL AND HIS 2020 TEAM DIDN’T LOSE!!!!! THAT IS THE SAME AS SAYING. MY 2021 TEAM LOST OR GOT RAPED!!!! THEN HE TRIED TO GET INTO THE NFL AND NOBODY WANTS HIM!!!!
PS. LOL IS ALL I HAVE TO SAY!!!!
Negan
I feel bad for the guy. He got caught up in the moment and reacted poorly. I’m pretty sure that’s not the only reason we lost to the worst LSU team in a decade.
It’s not. The biggest factor to me was a watching a team with their eyes set on the possibility of making the playoffs and forgetting that every game matters in the SEC. Florida was playing a team that had nothing to lose and that can be dangerous.
I don’t have any idea why LSU was so bad this year. I do know that there is a ton of talent on that team. It’s like playing kentucky basketball when they are having a bad year. They can still beat the snot out of you with talent if you don’t focus.
There a few reasons why LSU was so bad last year, but mostly it was coaching. Pelini never won the locker room over and it showed on the field – big time. He also did a poor job of teaching his scheme.
Hopefully, Oeaux got it fixed. And you’re right – there was WAY too much talent on that team for them to go 5-5.
If he, with the rest of our defense made plays like that for the whole game then he could have thrown 6 shoes and we still would have won. He made a poor decision but it did not lose us the game. Poor defensive recruiting and coaching adjustents lost us an entire season of what could have been. We squandered a championship offense because of a mediocre defense with a DC that could not make the adjustment. Mullen also should share the blame. He continuously talked about the SECCG that week when his only answer should have been “We will talk about that game when we get there, this week is LSU.” We got caught looking ahead to that SECCG.
Youre dead right. I made the same comment above before reading this. Cant forget which conference you play in and in the SEC, that can happen.
While there were multiple factors (no Pitts, blind field goal attempt in the fog, favorable LSU pass rushing matchups), the overwhelming reason was that one team was looking ahead and the other team really wanted it and played that way.
Florida might have won had Marco not tossed the shoe, but Florida did not deserve to win in any event.
I’m all for giving UF a hard time in a playful manner, but death threats from his own fan base? Some people need to get a life…
Nobody should be threatening this young man. He got caught up in the moment and messed up, but that’s the answer he should have given to the NFL scouts. “What did people expect?” Well, Marco, yes you actually were supposed to “hand it back nicely to him.” 99% of Nick Saban’s players would have.