Report: HS Football Player 'Catfished' on Twitter, Commits to Florida

Social media is a loosely regulated scrum of communication—a catch-all where parody accounts, misinformation and satire thrive as well as, if not better than, genuine news.

So it may not come as much a surprise to some that a North Carolina high school football player appears to have committed to a university after being misled by a Twitter user claiming to be a college coach.

The Rocky Mount Telegram’s Andrew Ivins reports that Nash Central student-athlete Houshun Gaines formally announced his commitment to the University of Florida on Friday, claiming to have been in contact with Gators assistant Brad Lawing. 

This does not appear to have been the case.

According to Nash Central athletics director Michael Mosley, Gaines was contacted over Twitter by an individual posing as Lawing, who subsequently tricked the 3-star defensive end into committing to Florida. 

Nonetheless, family and friends joined Gaines as he made his public commitment to the team, and it wasn’t long before the news spread to Gators coaches.

While Florida’s coaches can’t publicly address the media regarding prospective student-athletes, Mosley told Ivins that he spoke to Gators coaches and they claim to have had no recent contact with Gaines.

“When I talked to a coach, they told me they hadn’t spoke to Gaines in the last several weeks,” Mosley said. “I think he was talking to someone he thought was a coach. I guess he said [on Friday] that he had talked to a coach the night before, but they said he hadn’t talked to anybody on the coaching staff.”

Ivins noted that as of Saturday, 78 of Gaines’ followers have University of Florida-related sentiments in their Twitter bios. It stands to reason that one from among this number had somehow convinced Gaines to believe he had a formal scholarship offer from the Gators.

Gaines acknowledged over Twitter on Sunday that he had been catfished into committing to Florida:

It’s an awkward and unfortunate way to kick off what remains an open recruiting process, but there’s good news for Gaines, who still has plenty of time to consider other (actually real) offers from Virginia Tech, Miami and N.C. State. 

There’s also still a possibility Florida will make a move on the young defensive end. Gators coaches offered verbal interest in Gaines during a 2013 visit to Nash Central High, and according to Mosley, haven’t removed themselves from the recruiting equation.

“There is a commitment from Florida,” Mosley told Ivins. “But it’s not a commitment as far as what took place [on Friday]. They want to see more from him.”

In other words, Gaines’ “commitment” is a woozy, a wazi and complete fairy dust—but there’s still a chance.

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Good luck on the recruiting trail, Gaines. And don’t commit to any of those Nigerian football programs. They promise big bucks, but the coach is a total monarch/diva.

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