A.G. Gancarski
Florida’s Governor is putting the state’s top college football programs on notice.
During a press conference at the Jacksonville Classical Academy, Gov. Ron DeSantis again made the case that the Florida Gators, the Miami Hurricanes and even the Florida State Seminoles are leaving something to be desired when it comes to the gridiron.
“I want to see us do well in college football again. I know Florida State had a good year until that last game. I know the Gators didn’t do as good and Miami’s now, but, I mean, I’d like to get them all back,” DeSantis said.
The Governor suggested an erosion of amateurism in sports, one ironically driven by name, image and likeness (NIL) endorsement schemes such as that he made law is to blame for the diminished status of Florida’s historical top programs.
“I think this whole NIL may need some guardrails and the transferring has gotten out of hand. You know, transferring once? Fine, you shouldn’t have to sit out. But to just treat it like a free agency where you don’t know who’s going to come back each year, I think that’s diluted college sports.”
DeSantis has griped about student athletes having too much leverage and about Florida programs in recent months on numerous occasions, of course.
“Football’s changed where you have, like, you get paid for name, image and likeness and stuff, which we supported in Florida. If people are going to make money off you, like, whatever. But now it’s like, they sit out the bowl games and they do all this other stuff and a lot of Florida State’s players didn’t even play. We’ve got to do something about that. I don’t know if that’s the right thing,” DeSantis said in Waukee, Iowa during his failed presidential campaign.
Prior to FSU’s 60-point loss during bowl season, DeSantis pledged $1 million from the new state budget to sue the College Football Playoff committee over the Seminoles’ snub from the four-team playoff. He said his “disappointed kids” drove him to allocate a “small amount” for that pivotal legal exploration.
Yet despite FSU’s strong season before Jordan Travis’ untimely injury in a game against a lesser opponent at the end of the year, the Governor traveled around the country and griped about Florida’s athletes not meeting muster.
“Clemson has won in football recently. Florida, our state, has struggled in college football recently,” DeSantis complained in South Carolina. “We were the top state for years and years. We’ve not had anybody compete even to make the playoff until this year.”
“We’ve actually never had a team in the college football playoff since the playoffs started. Fast forward, rewind, when I was growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, it was like a Florida team was competing for the national title almost every year,” he said on a radio show around the same time in 2023.
“I realized this my first year as Governor. I asked my staff to give me letters of congratulations for all Florida’s high school blue-chip football recruits because we’ve got great high school football in Florida” DeSantis said during another event last year.
“And I’m signing these letters and it’s like, ‘Dear Michael, congratulations on going to the University of Georgia. Congratulations on going to Alabama.’ And I’m like, why congratulate them for leaving our state?”@CanesFootball
18 comments
Bwj
April 16, 2024 at 12:31 pm
Why is he complaining about this? Remind me which Florida University the Governor played his Division 1 baseball career at.
rick whitaker
April 16, 2024 at 12:32 pm
IF if you were a great high school football star, would you want to play on team desantis? HELL NO. so if floridians want a good winning football team, get rid of desantis and ALL of his minions.
Dont Say FLA
April 16, 2024 at 12:35 pm
Rhonda, you’re congratulating people with the ability to leave the state for choosing to do so due to your own dumb ass running them off with your anti-woke nonsense.
Stop ruining Florida and then maybe some kids will stay and the college football teams can stop sucking so much.
rick whitaker
April 16, 2024 at 12:40 pm
desantis didn’t get it when no one wanted him for president, and now he continues to not get it that floridians, for the most part, HATE HIM. it has to be hard for a punk like desantis to realize that everybody hates you. his fragile ego has to be brusied, if not permanently damaged.
Lajunia
April 17, 2024 at 3:00 am
Amen you’re taking away funding to certain schools DEI’s anti-woke crap don’t say gay it’s complete bs and he wonders why no kids wanna come to Florida maybe all the money for police and Your favorita classical colleges can make Florida sports great again dumb a
rick whitaker
April 18, 2024 at 10:57 pm
LAJUNIA, florida is on DEI life-support. somebody please help them and come in with loads of DEI.
Charlelayne Y Carswell
April 17, 2024 at 4:46 am
Wow I need not comment I think y’all said it all
Charlelayne Y Carswell
April 17, 2024 at 4:47 am
Well said just say it louder they’re deaf 🤣
Charlelayne Y Carswell
April 17, 2024 at 4:48 am
Minions stop running around and listen to the people
Orangeman
April 17, 2024 at 4:50 am
Maybe King Ron needs to worry a little bit more about the insurance crisis in the state. Then pituitary Giants deciding to leave to pursue better opportunities outside of his Dominion. I guess he’ll find another way to have the legislature intrusively get into other people’s business while claiming it’s all about freedom. You Republicans voted this crap in you Republicans support this nonsense. Enjoy your high taxes and higher insurance rates.
Mary C Freidin
April 17, 2024 at 2:26 pm
DeSantis went on academic & sports scholarship for the EDUCATION not personal enrichment. NIL has made this amateur NFL with an education as secondary and often not completed.players should share in rev but academics should also be criteria for rewards. BTW if you hate Fl so much move. DeSantis is well liked and respected by the majority. Just not crazy liberals. Thankfully there are less and less.
Scott Amsler
April 17, 2024 at 5:51 pm
How very Republican of you. Telling people if they don’t like things the way they are then move. Do you like president Biden? If not then take your own advice and move
rick whitaker
April 18, 2024 at 10:25 pm
MARY, desantis sucked at the scolarship tit and then the navy tit, and now he doesn’t want anyone else to have any tit except trash loans to trash schools. he wants to burn all bridges behind him so he can look back and laugh at the ones left behing. i think that is called the gop motto ” iv’e got mine, now you try to get yours, and see if i let you”. that IS the gop motto. feel free to share it with others.
Gwen Williams
April 17, 2024 at 3:25 pm
No DeSantis is not liked in Florida. His HATE is hurting Florida.
Gwen Williams
April 17, 2024 at 3:31 pm
Don’t believe anything he has to say. He hates everyone that doesn’t look or thinks like him. American people showed you they don’t want you. Write all stupid laws you want just to have your name on it. All will be repelled. He tries to put out narrative that Floridians don’t want recreational Marijuana, but they do. His dumb ass doesn’t realize that seniors are the #1 demographics.
gatorgab
April 17, 2024 at 8:11 pm
Love the job you’re doing Governor DeSantis! You know you’re doing a great job when the leftists show their obsession and derangement regarding you.
rick whitaker
April 18, 2024 at 9:20 pm
GAORGAB, so you are doing a good job when half the state hates your guts, and the other half says, we already have one trump, we don’t need another one. face it dude, desantis is a POS
Mark
April 24, 2024 at 10:10 am
This is what’s important? We’re facing a drain of middle class retirees, working families find it harder to afford a place to live yet several folks here think this is all OK because they “get to own the libs!” whatever “libs” are. Is your life that binary? Is what 20 years of Limpballs getting in your ears does to your level of critical thinking? “My house insurance went up $7000 the past two years and the legislature is in the pocket of the insurance industry but I made that lib (IE: anybody not like me) mad! I WIN!!!!”.
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