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This video of top-ranked recruit Travis Hunter flipping from Florida State to Jackson State might be the most electric moment in Signing Day history

December 15, 2021

The college football world issued a collective “wut?” on Wednesday morning, when news broke that cornerback Travis Hunter—ranked by many as the nation’s number-one-overall recruit—would be taking his talents to Jackson, Mississippi to join Deion Sanders’ upstart Jackson State program. It had been a foregone conclusion for weeks that Hunter would be heading to Florida State, but Prime, an FSU alum hilariously enough, had enough other plans.

The news sent a seismic rumble across college football, but it was nothing compared to planet-splitting earthquake that was Hunter’s family and friends reacting to the announcement in real time. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you the most electric moment in Signing Day history.

My goodness gracious. The disrespect of literally tossing away hats from Clemson, Georgia, and Florida State is one thing, but the reaction of the audience as he peels away his hoodie to reveal the JSU t-shirt beneath is nothing short of extraordinary. Grandmothers fainted. Dogs two states over started howling. Somewhere deep in the maw of space, alien life forms picked up a faint transmission. It was louder than Doak Campbell has been in half a decade.

It’s also very much a sign of the times. Hunter’s stated reason for choosing JSU is good and noble, but word on the street is he’s also about to secure a seven-figure NIL bag from Deion Sanders affiliates Barstool Sports. Those are just rumors at this stage, but where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire, especially when teenagers are involved and Lane Kiffin is putting stuff like this on the record hours beforehand:

Could the NIL worsen college football’s pre-existing inequities, as Kiffin suggets? If smaller programs can find rich benefactors like JSU, then no. If anything, Hunter’s switch is a sign that college football parity is not only alive and well, but better than ever. If it becomes the “school with the best boosters wins,” however, then nothing has really changed, has it?