Billy Napier cheered with overjoy when the No. 1 cornerback in the 2023 class, Cormani McClain, flipped to the Florida Gators. Ditching Deion Sanders and the Buffs. You know what? Since the start, this guy has been very confused. Coming out of Lakeland High School in Florida first, he chose to go to the University of Miami, but it took him no time to switch his decision to the Buffs.

He was doing well in the practice, as Sanders believed. But for the second time, he changes his mind in April 2024. He enters the portal. Joins Florida. Created a surge all over the place. The hype had been so much that everyone was expecting to see him go play in the season. But what happens next?

Weeks before the season started, Billy Napier was heard saying, “That’s a young player with minimal experience, so he’s doing just fine. He’s gonna be OK.” These were his exact words, which made fans hoping to watch him in his debut game. At that time, a rumor circulated that Cormani was not fitting well with his team. That was the reason Florida thought of doing away with him.

However, fans were disappointed when they didn’t see him on August 31, Florida’s season opener against the Miami Hurricanes. The game they brutally lost. Later, we learned that he had been benched. However, when the ultimate moment came, he had a chance to grab the pigskin throw during the pregame practice at Florida. Instagram page rivals Dotcom and Yahoo Sports collaborated in a clip they shared yesterday. We can see that a coach throws the pigskin toward McClain, and he drops it.

Boy! We’re living in the era of social media. Not a tiny thing misses away from the viewers. In no time, the miss was up on the table to be dissected by the fans. We can not help but feel bad for Cormani.

He was the top-rated defensive back in his 2023 class, having 58 tackles (3 for loss), 15 interceptions, 17 PDUs, and three forced fumbles over two years at Lakeland High School. But his collegiate stint has been volatile since the very beginning. Cormani’s initial commitment to Miami was no less than a shocker because all signs before the announcing day were pointing to him joining the Gators. Interestingly, the announcing ceremony itself was a bit of a drama.

McClain made the announcement so quickly during the ceremony that a recruiting journalist actually had to ask him to reset the table and commit again. The cameras weren’t even ready when he spoke the first time! While that must have been a major win for Miami, the string of incidents after that were ominous.

Just after Lakeland’s State Championship victory, Cormani refused to answer recruiting questions. Although he does not show up a lot in interviews, that was indeed odd. Matters turned even trickier on December 21, 2022, the first day of the Early Signing Period. Cormani had his ceremony scheduled at 10 am at Lakeland. His mother had even tweeted to confirm that. But a twist in the script at 9.36 am.

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She tweeted again to announce that it was not taking place! In the following days, Cormani kept claiming that he was fully committed to Miami. The last nail in the coffin probably came when the recruiting dead period opened on January 12th. Maimi sent their entire staff to the Lakeland high school to meet with McClain in an attempt to shore up his commitment. But he was not there. So where was he?

According to him, he was in Tampa. But, according to an IG live video taken at the same time, McClain was actually in Boulder, with Coach Prime and the Buffaloes! Not convinced? A screenshot from the YouTube page run by Deion Sanders Jr. featured McClain, wearing a Colorado #7 jersey. All these culminated where they should have. In January, Cormani committed to the Buffs. But even that stint was studded with difficulties. Reason? Not showing up on time in practice. Things reached such a stage that one more change was imminent.

That happened when Cormani headed back to his home state by joining the Gators. But the problem of lack of discipline did not leave him. And if insiders are to be believed, that is a reason for him being benched. But wait, there is one more twist. And that might look similar to his signing days with Maimi.

McClain took to X on September 29 to share a snap of him on his Instagram story, sitting and watching the Buffs vs Knights game! So is it Buffs time again? Never say no. But for now, nothing is stopping the fans from brutally trolling the former 5-star recruit.

Cormani McClain drops the pigskin and his prestige with it

One user writes, “Do bro even play?” jeez that’s mean! But catching a throw is the last thing we can expect from a five-star prospect. However, we can not deny that the amount of time he has spent in Gridiron has been miserable. He only played in 9 games for the Buffs last year, starting in just 4 of them, with a modest 13 tackles. voicing his disappointment, Cormani had written back then “I feel like I just don’t want to play for clicks. I actually want to be involved with a great-leading program that’s going to develop players.”

But looking at the drop, fans really seemed to wonder if Cormani has developed at all. One wrote, “Did bruh just drop the ball?” followed by the laughing emojis. The guy could not believe what he just witnessed. One more fan wrote, “5 star.. does lukewarm rep, drops ball...’ Yeah, we have to agree on it. It was from practice, not even a real game! We wonder if Cormani’s irregularities in practice have anything to do with it. After all, it had infuriated even Deion Sanders.

“Study, prepare, be on time for meetings, show up to the dern meetings. Understand what we’re doing as a scheme. Want to play this game… Desire to play this game. Desire to be the best in this game– at practice, in the film room and in your own free time,” Coach Prime had said last year when asked about Cormani. In fact, this had even caused problems in the Gator as well.

“I was told that Cormani McClain has been late to most of the requirements (meetings, lift, etc…). The way that it’s handled is sort of like a strike system. Essentially, you get a warning, they you have to do extra run/lift… which he’s started to show up late for as well. They started to make the defense and then the rest of the team do these extra lifts thinking that would get Cormani to show up on time and it hasn’t,” Nick De La Torre of On3 Sports had written in August. Maybe, that’s why, one fan wats him to go back to the Buffs.

Another fan writes, “He warm up just to stand on the sideline all game. He need to take his bu** back to Colorado where he could play.” Interestingly, Deion Sanders had his prayers to offer for Cormani when he left for the Gators. And what was that?

“I pray to God that he goes to a program that challenges him, as well as holds him accountable and develops him as a young man,” Sanders had said. Surely, Cormani has yet to find one. One last hilarious comment reads, “Just seen in before halftime on the sidelines. If they can get up, he might get some pt.” So where can Cormani finally fit? Questions are plenty and direction is obscure, for now.