There’s uncomfortable, and then there’s what transpired on live television Wednesday afternoon.
Jacob Copeland is a four-star wide receiver out of Pensacola, Florida, who had whittled his recruiting to-do list down to Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. Heading into National Signing Day, Copeland wrote on Twitter that he had “never been as stressed as I am now. I cried and cried all [Monday] night about God leading me in the right directions.”
Throughout this entire recruiting process I never been as stressed as I am now. I cried and cried all last night about God leading me in the right directions. Now I don’t have over much as a day to decide on a school that’ll change my future after football. 😔
— Jacob Copeland (@JCope1era) February 6, 2018
At the signing day press conference, Copeland was seated with his mother and others at a table, with hats representing his three finalists. The mom, meanwhile, was clad in an Alabama sweater and was wearing a Tennessee hat.
With a nationwide audience watching on ESPNU, Copeland announced his decision by donning a Florida baseball cap. Almost immediately thereafter, and with shades of Landon Collins’ mom still lingering in recruiting lore, Copeland’s mother got up and walked off, offering a significant clue as to what had been stressing him out leading into signing day.
“I can’t go with my mom,” a very composed Copeland stated during his interview. “I gotta go with my heart.”
Jacob Copeland's mother — in an Alabama sweater and Tennessee hat — just got up and left after he announced he was going to Florida pic.twitter.com/tOZHnZeamv
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 7, 2018
We don’t know both sides of the story, but, at first blush, that’s a really bad look for mom. A really, really, really bad look.
The good news, though, is the mom later returned to give her son a hug and a kiss as the two talked. So there’s that.
Mom came back... pic.twitter.com/VNKrVdDiue
— FootballScoop (@FootballScoop) February 7, 2018