One high school football player might be laying off the Twitter machine for a little while.
Nash Central’s Houshun Gaines, a three-star defensive end from North Carolina, formally announced his commitment to the University of Florida on Friday in front of family and friends, but as it turns out, he won’t be taking his talents to The Swamp just yet because it all turned out to be an elaborate catfishing scheme.
According to the Rocky Mount Telegram, Gaines believed he was recruited to the university by Florida defensive line coach Brad Lawing, who he thought he had been communicating with via Twitter for the past month and a half.
But mass amounts of confusion followed after Gaines’ announcement, as it was discovered he had been talking to someone posing as the Gators coach. Later that night, Nash Central athletics director Michael Mosley finally got in contact with a Florida coach who told him that they hadn’t been the ones speaking with Gaines over the last few weeks.
“When I talked to a coach, they told me they hadn’t spoke to Gaines in 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.”
For his part, Gaines seems to be keeping his sense of humor amid the disastrous chain of events. He took to Twitter on Sunday night and confirmed he had been a victim of catfishing.
[tweet https://twitter.com/HZGduoUno/status/518913518314467328 align=’center’]
[tweet https://twitter.com/HZGduoUno/status/518915083377065985 align=’center’]
While Gaines could still potentially land with Florida, he has also received offers — real offers — from Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College among others.
Photo via Twitter/@HgzduoUno
