One of the biggest National Signing Day surprises was really no surprise for Florida State.
Four-star defensive tackle Shavar Manuel (Bradenton, FL) was committed to the Gators, but FSU and its coaches knew that would change on Wednesday.
Manuel decommitted from Florida earlier Wednesday only to sign with FSU, leaving the Gators with a huge hole at defensive tackle.
FSU defensive line coach Brad Lawing, who used to coach at Florida in the same position, added some context to Manuel’s flip.
“Shavar had told me the night before, ‘I’m a Seminole’ and then he committed to Florida,” Lawing said during FSU’s annual signing day party, via the Orlando Sentinel. “I called him up, asked what’s going on and he said ‘I’m just getting some pressure from people.’
“So he didn’t just flip tonight. We’ve known about this for about two weeks.”
Lawing told Manuel to “play the game” and to “tell the damn Gators anything they want to hear,” according to the paper.
Signing day flips are truly an art, and in recent history, FSU and Florida have traded jabs on signing day. One of the more notable signing day flips came when Dante Fowler opted to sign with the Gators instead of FSU, a program he had been committed to for a while.
A graduate of the University of Florida and founder of Saturday Down South, Kevin is a college football enthusiast.
