One of Florida’s highest-ranked signees from the Class of 2019 is not ticketed to Gainesville after all.
Four star linebacker Diwun Black posted the news to his Twitter account on Monday night about the change of plans, which was met with some words of encouragement from head coach Dan Mullen in a reply:
You know we got your back and you are a Gator. 🐊🐊🐊. Keep grinding.
— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) May 14, 2019
Black, a native of Mississippi, hints that academics are one driving force in the detour to junior college this year instead of joining the SEC program. He was ranked by 247Sports Composite as the 151st player in the most recent recruiting class and a top 10 linebacker nationally.
While the news is no doubt a huge bummer for Black after spending so much time trying to qualify, things are doubly disappointing for the Gators as yet another member of their Class of 2019 won’t be on campus for the upcoming season. The linebacker, at least, is not arriving for a very different reason from the other two departures at least as four-star QB Jalon Jones was accused of sexual assault and former five-star CB Chris Steele is transferring after spring practice reportedly due in part to an issue with sharing a dorm room with the signal-caller.