2014 RB Dalvin Cook flips from Florida to FSU

By Adam Silverstein
December 31, 2013

A year filled with devastating news for the Florida Gators ended in a similar fashion as the program lost its highest-rated 2014 commitment, four-star running back Dalvin Cook (Miami, FL), to the in-state rival Florida State Seminoles on the final day of 2013.

ESPNU casually broke the news of Cook’s flip with a graphic and simple mention on Tuesday evening during a taped show emanating from practices ahead of the 2014 Under Armour All-American Game.

Though he first made a pledge to continue his career at Florida back on April 6, when he decided to flip his commitment from Clemson, Cook began wavering as the Gators fell apart throughout the season.

Florida finished 4-8 while the team Cook ultimately committed to, Florida State, is 12-0 and playing for a national title next week.

He told Scout.com‘s Amy Campbell that he came to the final decision to play for FSU two months ago. Cook has spent much of that time claiming he was “100 percent” committed to UF. Dozens of pictures of Cook doing the Gator Chomp have found their way on social media over the last few days.

The Gators now only have three commitments participating in the Under Armour All-American Game, set to air live on ESPN at 4 p.m. on Thursday, a number that could decrease in the coming days or weeks.

A pair of four-star Florida pledges – wide receiver Ermon Lane (Homestead, FL) and cornerback J.C. Jackson (Immokalee, FL) – are also wavering in their commitments. Lane has said he plans to attend school with Cook and has an official visit scheduled at FSU, while Jackson is heavily considering Miami.

2015 four-star WR Da’Vante Phillips (Miami, FL), Cook’s teammate at Miami Central High School, decommitted from UF on Dec. 24. He had made a verbal pledge on July 27.

Cook, the 30th ranked player in the Class of 2014, was considered a must-get prospect for the Gators this recruiting cycle. His innate playmaking ability was sorely needed by Florida, which would likely have found a way to get him on the field right away.

86 Comments

  1. calgator says:

    What a POS. I don’t begrudge anyone for changing their mind or picking a school that they like better than UF. But this punk comes out and says that he knew it was F$U 2 months ago while continuing to give Gator chomps and say he was 100/85/80% committed, etc. Absolutely low-class.

    • ga8or22 says:

      The loss of Cook was not a real surprise – a number of telling facts should have tipped us off.
      No 1 is a kid never takes official visit to Florida. Red flag No 2 Cook takes an official to F$U skipping Gainesville. No 3, current player from Florida State for the most part congratulates DC on twitter for becoming a Seminole. No 4, we heard that the same day his 2015 teammate Devante Phillips decommits from Florida that apparently Cook calls the FSU coaching staff and tells them he is in. This was not a surprise – all signs pointed to this and the non believers couldn’t accept the facts.

      • calgator says:

        I never said I was surprised. I fully expected him to flip based on all the rumors that were flying. My anger comes form the fact that he continued to say he was committed to us and gave all sorts of pro-Gator signs on tv and in pics even after deciding to leave. He continually talked about loyalty and honesty, yet lied about everything involving his recruitment.

        • Gatorgrad79 says:

          Word on some other sites is that he was encouraged by the halfassu staff not to reveal anything and play it up for UF UNTIL the underarmour game….then embarass UF by his choice. Low class behavior for a low class kid going to a low class school – PERFECT FIT!

  2. SW FL Joe says:

    These things happen when you lose to mediocre FCS programs.

  3. Champ Supporter says:

    I hate to have an issue with a teenager, but man come on. Are you starving for attention? Good luck to you in Tallahassee. I’ll take guys who wanna be here. If your heart isn’t here, then hey get on!

  4. Sam Andreu says:

    Can’t really blame him. Who knows what kind of offensive production we may or may not have. They have a pile of good backs there. We have a bunch of talent wasted. We don’t really deserve the best if we cannot max them out.

  5. Champ Supporter says:

    And by the way, there are some pretty dang good players that currently sit on Florida’s roster.

  6. WJP2 says:

    We’ll 4 wins, Coach on hot seat, 3rd OC, No proving QB. Compared to 12 wins, Coach with big ext.,and QB just won heisman. Kids want right now not tomorrow. I’m hoping Matt Jones stays healthy next yr with Kelvin Taylor. Go Gators

  7. SaraGator says:

    This time next year, Cook will still be driving around looking for University of Florida State.

    GatorBait! We don’t need his poison in the locker room.

  8. ??? says:

    I’m glad our basketball team is doing well because our football program is in the toilet. Thanks, Will.

  9. g8ter27 says:

    Well can’t say I blame him. First our offense flat out sucks and there is no guarantee Roper will be allowed to improve it. Second, Taylor, Jones and probably Lane would have likely started over him ad I honestly don’t know where FSU is on their depth chart. Obviously he was waiting to see what Fisher did regarding going to Texas, Might have helped us but who really wants a kid like that? Let him go sit the bench there and be Fisher’s problem when he gets in trouble.

  10. Oldfyer says:

    Well, win a few, lose a few.

    Watching Duke’s offensive production tonight I would say the Gators won a big one.

    Cook may wish he had taken a little more time and watched this offense in action before he pulled his bait and switch.

    • Ken (CA) says:

      I was just thinking that myself. Very impressed with Roper so far tonight

      • John says:

        Before getting carried away with the Duke offense can we remember that they were going up against the Texas A&M defense. If there defense was at all decent they would be in the national championship with manziel.

        • gatorboi352 says:

          John, I don’t know if you are aware, but Florida couldn’t put up 30 on a Division 2 school this past year. Seeing Roper putting up 48 on Texas A&M (with Duke caliber athletes) is looking like we just hired the Broncos OC right about now.

  11. Cside15 says:

    Muschamp will take us down lower than Zook ever did. Who knows how long it will take to get back to the glory days. Foley should have seen this coming and cleaned house this past year. What a shame!

    • uf_84 says:

      WM has already taken us far lower than Zook ever did. We were going to take a recruiting hit this year whether he was fired or not. He wasn’t, so now we will take it next year as well unless by some miracle he can turn things around. We have to hope that he can because if not it’s going to take a long time to repair all the damage.

  12. Champ Supporter says:

    I know people get excited about stars, but it’s hard for me to get bent out of shape about players who have yet to step foot on a college field in a college game. Some of these guys may turn out to be awesome players, but who were the last true freshmen to be difference makers from DAY 1? I really can’t say we do not had playmakers on offense because we have not had an offensively philosophy in a while that allows that to show! However, if Duke’s game tonight is any indication of what we will see in Gainesville, then things are looking up!

    • Ken (CA) says:

      Just looking at us and off the top of my head, how about Hargreaves? Harvin? Even Xavier Nixon was a dominant freshman, before he went downhill, first freshman to start LT in 40 yrs or something? Chris Leak? list goes on and on, Emmitt (well hall didn’t actually start him until the 3rd game but still)? And that is just some off the top of my head for Gators, all the elite teams have some. Clowney? I am sure if you talked to anyone who follows all of CFB much more like any of the Gameday folks they could rattle of name after name. It isn’t ever a sure thing but there are a pretty significant handful every year in various schools

      • Champ Supporter says:

        That’s not a very big list. My point was that almost of all of these guys take at least a year.

        • Ken (CA) says:

          just some off the top of the head at one school….many high level schools and many that are instant impacts, there are always 10-20 or so a year that are instant

        • gatorboi352 says:

          Of course guy named ‘Champ Supporter’ is down playing the impact of us losing this kid. But hey, fret not guys! We landed another top rated corner back! We are so loaded at corner! That’s how you win National Championships!

          • Champ supporter says:

            I will support whoever the coach is. I am not losing sleep over a recruit. Down play or not, he isn’t coming to Florida – moving on!

    • Danny says:

      Are you only planning on being a gator fan for another year? Because if not then why are you so obsessed with what they will do in year 1.

  13. Teaguer says:

    What a Phony POS! What was the statement he made in the article I read, all about Loyalty and being upfront and honest. That’s why he liked the Florida coaches. Shame he doesn’t understand the definition of “Loyalty”. Guess that’s the case when you can’t even attain a 2.5 GPA. (p.s. I personally know a guy who was a professor at FSU, but left because he told me that the administration required him to give their football players a pass, even if they failed. He was my Calculus professor at University of Florida. Needless to say UF did not require him to give players a free pass.)

    • gatorboi352 says:

      He’s a 18 year old KID. You guys are acting like this guy is the President feeding us lies or something.

      • Tguygator says:

        Actually, he is a liar. Maybe at this point, Cook is sick of the questions and its all a game to him but Saturday my brother saw him @ Miami airport. He said, “I’m more upset he (Cook) lied when we saw him and his friend (also a FL commit) in the Miami airport. He said he was moving into Gainesville this week.”

  14. Ken (CA) says:

    Adam, are we expecting any possible positive news from the UA game? Anyone announcing at the game on Thurs seriously considering us that we expect to land?

  15. Ken (CA) says:

    just listened to his announcement interview on ESPN, and 3 things stuck out, and I certainly can’t blame him for any of them (paraphrasing)

    1. “When I first committed, I committed with my heart, but now that I am a senior I need to look at it as a business decision, and I think FSU is the better decision

    2. When asked about UF struggles and FSU playing for title if that played a part in the decision? Absolutely

    3. “I think they are better for me schematically, I think they play an offense that fits me better, they are more balanced”

    • SJ210 says:

      Yeah hard to blame the kid, sounds like a very rational thought process. Fisher is stockpiling talent over there. Would’ve been nice to add him, but there will be others like him next year that we’ll get because either a) Roper will turn the offense around or b) we stink again and bring in a new HBC.

  16. MechEgator says:

    I have no problem with Cook @ FSU…it’s his choice. But, the conspiring long winded intentional humiliation that transpired in this saga exemplifies all that is wrong with recruiting. His recent acts and statements were calculated and centered upon escalating the attention surrounding his recruitment. I hope coaching staffs, at any institution, do not promote this behavior. There is no need to take opportunities from other prospects to stroke your own ego.

    • Ken (CA) says:

      it didn’t sound like intentional humiliation, sounded like he really wanted to go to UF, but smartest business decision for him was to go to FSU in his mind. It shows how bad recruits feel about our current staff based on the things he said, I mentioned before. It actually sounded to me like a very responsible decision on his part. There is also no way to know whether or not the current coaching staff didn’t already know his decision, as they aren’t allowed to say anything until a recruit actually signs…

      • uf_84 says:

        Agree 100%. We have a proven three year track record of bad offense. Any offensive recruit would have to think long and hard about what he would be getting into before making a decision to come to UF. Kids like Cook aren’t choosing a college for the educational value, they are looking for the fastest route to an NFL payday.

  17. Tguygator says:

    I loathe 1/2assu. I hope AU hits Winston to the echo of the whistle. Don’t want him hurt but want him beat up like they beat Danny. It hurts losing Cook to them but sadly, I can’t blame him. He was a jerk, tho, to say he knew for 2 mths.

    • Ken (CA) says:

      this post makes no sense

      • Terri says:

        Not difficult:
        –Cook chose our hated rival at the end of 2013
        –I loathe FSU – gators have used 1/2assu to describe them for years – I like it
        –Perfect segue into national championship game
        –AU = Auburn
        –I think the only way for AU to win is for Winston to stay rattled — like we did for around 1.5 quarters in Nov
        –If you don’t know about the 1996 UF/FSU game in Tally, it would make no sense

        HAPPY NEW YEAR

      • TST says:

        it does to me . i understand just fine !!

    • gatorboi352 says:

      They didn’t look very 1/2assu in November when they buried us in the Swamp where Only Gators Get Out Alive

  18. erng' n blue says:

    Listening to you cry babies post after post is comical. Pure garbage. We have Kelvin Taylor, period. How many years did you see University of Florida State making an impact after Taylor leaves? One, is Taylor hard pressed to raise a family or legacy a name? i haven’t even mentioned Matt Jones, Showers, & Lane. I’ll take a guy like Taylor 100 times before Cook. Yes, I understand he is a Soph over Fresh. Do you think he is going there to red Shirt his Fresh at UFSU? Remember a guy called mack brown? my point is that you want to offer a guy the keys to the kingdom and he hasn’t played a snap yet? Remember Deonte Thomas, etc…. F-Cook and the guys he wants to take to University of Florida State. Do you think they are getting past AU and the rest of the SEC in years to come? Very short sighted. Jimbo has been at the helm for 4 years before he found JW. Do you think they are winning three, let alone one before JW leaves? Sheez, tell me the winning numbers why you are at it…Call yourself gators dammit and enough with the bull shit 18 year olds have on you.

    • Ken (CA) says:

      unless Ermon Lane is so sold on UF that he will stick with commit, above his wish to play with Cook, I wouldn’t count on him not decommitting as well and heading to FSU. Unless Adam has any inside information that will let us know on uncommitted players that might declare for us still that he hasn’t revealed, this is likely to be a recruiting class that will assist our line in years to come, but all the playmakers are leaving. Hopefully Roper can hit the trail now that the game is over and maybe bring some back into the fold, or some new names we aren’t aware of.

      If not, WM will be gone after next season, unless the line can hold for Driskel or Grier to have a decent (sad to say that thinking of winning season as decent nowadays) and get to a bowl.

      Since linemen seldom have impact in season 1, it could be ugly again next year if playmakers we hope to have go elsewhere.

      Until signing day, I will be holding my breath to see who we get, but it is looking very ugly at this point, and it looks like our best playmakers recruited likely going elsewhere….

      • John says:

        If we loose Ermon Lane we are done. I need some hope for the future of our passing game, him and will grier are it.

  19. erng' n blue says:

    ^^Thompson

  20. Ken (CA) says:

    Adam, great work again all year, and as I mentioned Merry Christmas to you, Happy new year as well! about 20 mins until new year here in CA, but keep it up with the great information you keep providing!

    • Terri says:

      So true, Ken – Adam, thank you for all the terrific work — your prompt writing is terrific and a great news source. Happy New Year,

  21. John says:

    we have Kelvin Taylor and Matt Jones, he would have end up being a talent for waste most of his career like Mike Gillislee anyways.

  22. Gatoralum88 says:

    More proof that Muschump CAN’T CLOSE like Meyer or Zook could. It won’t surprise me if Lane follows suit. The pathetic Muschoke era continues.

    • G2 says:

      Meyer could close but when you look back at the players only about 50% of the recruits panned out. They either got in trouble, transferred, or never saw the field because they were overrated….thats why there was no depth when he left.
      He got lucky with the Tebow/Harvin/Spikes combo and rode them to the max. Looks like that 11-2 season used all Champs luck, downhill from here unless something miraculous happens. If not we start over again next year.

      • gatorboi352 says:

        When you look back?? When you look back, Meyer won TWO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN SIX YEARS.

        Seriously I will never understand the Meyer hate among the Gator Nation. The second best coach UF has ever had in any sport, behind Billy Donovan.

        • Ken (CA) says:

          How can you not understand? The way it all unraveled the last 2 years he was here, after his “illness” where all of Gator nation stood behind him and wished him well, then leaving and coming back, while the last year was half hearted attempt, then leaving again saying not going to coach again, at least for a long time, and within a year at OSU. That sequence ticked off a lot of people.

          And hardly 2nd best coach UF has ever had in any sport. Just in football, Spurrier is heads and shoulders above him. You also have current coaches in other sports that would rank above him when you think about what they have accomplished Rhonda Faehn, Amanda O’Leary, Tim Walton, and Mary Wise.

          • Danny says:

            Dude…just stop

          • Gatoralum88 says:

            I’m with gatorboi and Danny & don’t see why Gator fans like Ken (CA) now dislike Meyer so much. He gave his heart, soul & nearly his life for the program. If you don’t believe he had a serious health issue just youtube “Meyer 911 call”. I also know one of the nurses who cared for him during his hospital stay who told me he had some sort of procedure done. He coached, recruited, and worked his a** off for UF and came close to winning 3 national championships. Sure, he had a down final year here perhaps because he delegated too much while he was recovering. I think the year away from coaching helped him a lot and I strongly believe if Tressel were still at OSU Meyer would still be in the booth. Meyer’s an Ohio native so OSU was too hard to turn down. Also, this notion he “left the cupboard bare” is nonsense. ALL of the stars from Muschump’s 11-2 team (Floyd, Easley, Bostic, Jenkins, Elam, Evans, Gillislee, Sturgis) were Meyer recruits. Also, if not for Meyer, there’s a good chance Tebow would have gone to Alabama (it’s in his book). Spurrier, who I feel is the greatest Gator ever, left Foley in far more of a bind to find a replacement than Meyer did. Spurrier leaving came completely out of leftfield by leaving in early January after the bowl game. Meyer likely gave Foley a “heads up” way before announcing he was stepping down which is why Muschoke was hired so quickly. At least, Meyer’s coaching in the Big 10 where he’s not beating us most years like Spurrier. Don’t get me wrong, I root for Spurrier wholeheartedly when his team isn’t playing the Gators just because of what he did for the program. I’ll do the same for Meyer for the same reason.

  23. Daniel M. says:

    The verbal commitment has become a complete joke. It should seriously be renamed the verbal school preference. “Commitment” should be reserved for something like an early signing period. Also, hearing a high schooler tell who his “top 5” are is terminal. It’s a game.

  24. gator says:

    when the going gets tough little cookie gets goin. what a tool

  25. uf_84 says:

    This kind of reminds me of the Matt Elam saga from a few years ago. Like Oldfyer said “Win a few, lose a few”. Hopefully our new OC can work with the players we already have and we can have a productive O next year. Cook and Lane were not going to make or break us either way.

    • gatorboi352 says:

      Let’s hope he doesn’t pan out to be the Matt Elam of FSUs offense or we’re in big trouble.

      • uf_84 says:

        Yeah I was thinking that myself but didn’t want to say it. Nothing we can do about it now but try to kick his ass.

    • Ken (CA) says:

      I’m hoping he is already on the phone talking to recruits. Don’t know if we are still in the dead period or not, though

  26. gatorboi352 says:

    “He told Scout.com‘s Amy Campbell that he came to the final decision to play for FSU two months ago”

    Wasn’t that around the same time Florida lost to that Division 2 school?

  27. Frank says:

    I agree with Daniel. Maybe we should just stop listing verbal commitments. Just wait till its final and they’ve signed the LOI. Might help control the recruiting mania and send a message to recruits than your word means something.

    • G2 says:

      Agree with that, things are out of hand. Its not a commitment until they sign on the dotted line and even then it can fall apart. Don’t see any way to change things, these guys are in the spotlight and enjoy the drama of jerking us around.
      We most likely do have enough players (without massive injuries) to be good next year, but then a sub-par class hurts us down the line. How many 4 star players are riding the pine now?

      Think we need to develop the talent we have but not seeing it happen. I watched the Louisville game and thought that’s a well coached team, and they are doing it with less signing talent. Guess Charlie Strong should have been at the top of our wish list, guy runs a tight ship.

  28. Nick says:

    If you ain’t a Gator then your Gator bait and all that! Chomp, chomp. chomp

  29. aziatic41 says:

    Landing 4 and 5 star rated kids mean nothing at the end of the day, if you have a good coaching staff. South Carolina has dominated opponents the last two seasons with mainly 2 and 3 star kids. Look at the success Vandy has also had with lowly-rated kids. Obviously you’d love to sign the best kids possible but stars are overrated.

    • Danny says:

      Actually there is a strong correlation between recruiting success and on-field success.
      How many SEC championships has SC won? How many National Championships?
      How about Vandy?

      Glad we are shooting to be more like South Carolina.
      Another sad sign of the state of the program

    • Danny says:

      Also HAHAHAHAHA at USC recruiting mainly 2 and 3 star kids
      Try 3 and 4 star with the occasional 5 star mixed in.
      They also landed the #1 recruit in the nation a few years ago. You might have heard of him.

  30. John says:

    Really, the future of our team depends on Will Grier and the development of our young receivers. Our defense and running game is there, we just need to be able to throw down the field.

    • Danny says:

      Our D has heavily relied on Meyer’s Dline recruits.
      Muschamps Dline recruiting has been subpar.
      This D will be nothing like it was now that Meyer’s recruits are mostly gone.

      • John says:

        The only weak part of our defense right now is our DT. We get better at LB with more experience and I think only one LB lost, both of our DE’s are back, and whether Marcus Roberson leaves or not we have tons of young DB’s with talent out there of course led by Vernon Hargreaves III, and I think our secondary will be better next year.

        • Danny says:

          We saw what a defense with no DTs looks like once Easley went down.

          No reason to think they improve next year.

          Defense will be above average at best next year. They will not be good enough to win us games without an offense.

  31. Danny says:

    Muschamp is garbage. This program will continue to set new lows

  32. Danny says:

    The problem most of you don’t realize is that we didn’t just lose 1 kid. We lost 3. Cook, Lane, and Phillips.

    All are absolute studs and could have really given this program some offensive playmakers.
    We WILL lose game(s) because of these losses. No doubt about it.

    • John says:

      Cook would have never played over Kelvin Taylor or Matt Jones. In 2 or 3 years when Kelvin Taylor and Matt Jones are gone, then we may wish he was there but Cook would have never gotten playing time until his Junior or Senior. We haven’t lost Lane, but if we did that would be a huge lost because I expect him to maybe start for the team next year and give us hope at the WR position. Not that Ahmad Fulwood and all of our other young recievers can’t be good, it’s just Ermon can be great.

      • Danny says:

        Have you watched Dalvin Cook play?
        I love Taylor, but Cook is much more of a playmaker.
        He can break one on any carry.

        Jones isn’t in the same league and is injury prone.

        • gatorboi352 says:

          Yeah, well guess what Danny: In high school, Driskel looked like the second coming of Tebow. Not so much now.

          • Danny says:

            This is the dumbest logic I have ever heard.

            Maybe we should recruit guys who look crappy in high school?

            • John says:

              Kelvin Taylor looked amazing in HS too, better, and he has been VERY good with announcers already proclaiming him the future of our team. He was the No. 1 RB in HS, Dalvin Cook is No. 4. I was impressed by Dalvin Cook in the Under Armour game but he isn’t the talent that Kelvin Taylor is, not to mention Kelvin has a year seniority on him.

  33. aziatic41 says:

    Cook is more dynamic than Taylor. One crease and he’s taking it to the house. He’s a program changer! Losing him to FSU may have very well costed Muschamp his job even sooner. Because I don’t think Lane is coming if he and Cook are best friends. I mean can you blame them with the season we just had ? If you were an incoming freshman would you rather have Driskel as your qb or Winston ? Would you rather play for Jimbo or WM ? The answers are simple guys. We can’t blame these kids for going to FSU.

    On a more positive note, Roper gives us life. He has a very efficient offense and he’s very smart. He put up good numbers with subpar players at Duke. Also remember he served as the assistant head coach at Duke. If we start off slow next season, WM will be fired and Roper will be probably be the interim head coach.

    • Mr2Bits says:

      Costed? Seems like your one “ac” from being a Winston and FSU fan! Why would you even want a kid at UF that tries to humiliate gator nation like this and makes himself look like a fool? He knew for 2 months he didn’t want to be a Gator and tried to pull the typical FSU shenanigans. His last attempt was today saying Duke had better athletes than us and he could screw around how he saw fit. This clown will fit right in withe the rest of the UF rejects and the circus Jimbo is trying to run up there!

      • G2 says:

        Fsu is the hot team now just like we were in 06, this stuff happens. Fowler did it to them 2 years ago.
        Don’t think we could have beaten Duke this year, so he might be right. We have higher rated players but what does that get you, a 4-8 record?
        I do think the new OC will change everything, he got Dukes offense scoring 50 with 2-3 star guys, think what he can do with higher rated players.

  34. John says:

    These people giving Cook the edge over Kelvin Taylor are ridiculous. Overhyping prospects and not giving enough credit to our current players like always. Kelvin Taylor was a stud this year behind a bad passing game and bad offensive line once we finally started him. Cook may have more explosiveness, but Kelvin Taylor is overall easily the better back between the two.

  35. erng' n blue says:

    John & Mr2bits, to echo your points. I was just about to write the same thing after hearing the idiotic statements made about cook > Taylor. Are you F-ing kidding me? You are comparing a kid in high school to a man in the SEC. And not to mention with a misplaced Oline and 2nd & 3rd stringers blocking for him? Sprinkle in the fact that he was doing this against SEC defenses with 8 plus in the box? Take your university of Florida state clown and get off our site you troll.

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