According to Jax Terry Parker OL Tavadis Glenn, who committed back in April, sight unseen, he decided to attend the University of Florida's Friday Night Lights camp on (surprise!) Friday night "at the last minute," because he "hadn't attended that many camps" and just wanted to show his stuff.
But then he got kicked out -- for throwing up the U.
"It was during one on one drills - I threw up the U," he told Rivals. "My coach was in the stands and he's a Hurricane fan. He was egging me on.
"Then the Florida Gators [coaches], they came up. They got mad, said I couldn't participate. They said it's not a Miami Hurricanes camp.
"I was just like, 'Huh, are you all serious?' And I just walked off the field. The guys I know that were there were saying `Why'd they kick you off?'"
Glenn said he "was upset at first, but I realized this is a business. I don't plan on going to Florida, don't even plan on taking any visit there. I'm solid on Miami. So I'm not even worried about it.
"If we play them I'm going to make them pay."
THAT'S RIGHT YOU BIG ADORABLE BABY.
ETA: It's been suggested by a Rivals admin that schools had 'backed off' of Glenn because of such 'knucklehead' behavior.
Schools never, ever take guys with attitude (or history of sexual assault, or criminal records, or the distinction of being banned by their high school athletic associations), right? So a guy who's disrespectful enough to make a non-lewd hand gesture is banished for his behavior from programs that routinely wind up on police blotters? That makes no sense.
Was it smart? No. Typical behavior from a teenaged recruit? Yes. Might he even be an ass? Sure. Indicative of a deeper problem that's scared off other, er...more tolerant programs? Highly doubtful. Fuck Rivals.
ETA2: This is hysterical. From Gatorbait.net:
Ironically enough...Tavadis Glenn first made a name for himself last summer while putting on a show at the 2008 Friday Night Lights Camp.
Last year, he was an invited guest at the camp. This time around, though he wasn't asked to, he decided to tag along with several of the Raines prospects ...Everything was going well through the first half of the event, but then during drills, in a moment of celebration (and haste), he in explicitly [SIC-LULZ] decided to throw up the 'U' after a play - which of course could be taken as a sign of disrespect for the coaches who were hosting him on their campus, taking the time out of their schedule to help him improve, and despite his unexpected arrival, gave him an opportunity to compete in what may be the most prestigious college camp in the nation.
The action could be equated to a person crashing your house party, getting drunk and then urinating in your potted plants. Well, maybe it wasn't disrespectful to that extent, but there's no doubt his actions rubbed the UF coaching and support staff the wrong way...For their part, the rest of the Raines invitees, even those committed elsewhere, acted responsibly.While Glenn's form of celebration was frowned upon, there was no way anyone was about to step in and stop the fun when several of the top prospects in the nation decided to celebrate big plays by doing the 'Gator Chomp.'
ETA3: more detail from the Sun-Sentinel:
Glenn said he flashed the sign after successfully covering a defensive lineman to show Gators recruits "what Miami do" after they taunted him throughout the night.
An assistant coach gave him one chance to respond, he said.
"He told me to get out the camp, that this is not a Miami camp," Glenn said. "He told me to take that (expletive) down there. I was like 'Huh?' I only did it once."
Gators recruits prompted the move by saying aloud "they don't do this in Miami," said Glenn, who did not know the name of the coach who booted him.
The incident was confusing, Glenn said, because Gators Coach Urban Meyer had visited Jacksonville to recruit him. Glenn attended the camp because he "thought it would make my stock rise."
Coaches can't commit on specific recruits per NCAA rules. In a statement, Florida team spokesman Steve McClain said: "He was asked to leave during the last drill period of the camp because of potential safety issues to other campers."
Glenn said safety was never an issue.
"It was nothing like that going on," Glenn said. "We were just getting after it. I stopped one of the big pass rushers who was beating everybody, and I was fired up."
Jacksonville Raines defensive tackle Louis Nix, also a UM commitment who drove to the camp with Glenn, said he thought the Gators should not have kicked out his friend because they each paid $35 to attend.
"We had to pay to participate, and he was participating," said Nix, who has a scholarship offer from the Gators. "He should have been able to do that."