Hail Florida Hail
Fansided

Florida Football: Marcus Stokes made a poor choice but should still be a Gator

By Benjamin Henderson

Nease High School quarterback Marcus Stokes throws the ball in his school’s game against Creekside High School at home on Friday, September 3, 2021.Fl Sar 09032021 Nease Creekside
Nease High School quarterback Marcus Stokes throws the ball in his school’s game against Creekside High School at home on Friday, September 3, 2021.Fl Sar 09032021 Nease Creekside /
facebooktwitterreddit

Marcus Stokes committed to Florida football over the summer, flipping from Penn State. Stokes made the commitment after Jaden Rashada spurned the Gators for Miami.

Fast forward to this past weekend and Rashada is now a Gator while Stokes is looking for a new team following a controversial video that came out with him rapping along and not censoring himself.

Billy Napier rescinded the offer for the four-star QB on Sunday. And as much as we have approved of Napier’s culture building tactics, this felt heavy handed and Marcus Stokes should still be a Florida Gators commit.

Florida Football: Connotation vs Denotation

I’ve mentioned this a couple of times before, but in my personal life I teach high school English. One of the books we teach every year is “To Kill a Mockingbird.” In our buildup to the book, we have a very real discussion about the origins of certain words.

The word that Stokes used is rooted in hatred and was initially given life as a way to demean those that were black. In time, usage of the word has become complicated.

There are those that feel given word’s origin that no one should be using the word, and that’s a fair argument to have. Others feel given the free usage of the word in rap music that context matters and not every white guy saying it is saying it from a place of racism, and that’s fair too.

Obviously I’m not using the word because of its historical context. In working with high school students every day, it’s almost impossible for a 17 or 18-year old to have that nuanced perspective. The optics never work out well when caught film, but I do believe the context and intent here is different than say Riley Cooper.

Having a spot with Florida football is an honor and highly competitive though. My honest take is that once Jaden Rashada committed, Billy Napier got the QB he originally wanted and this incident gave them reason to send Stokes on his way. If Napier truly wanted Stokes to be a member of Florida football come August, there was a pathway to do that.

Keep up with all things Florida football with Hail Florida Hail.

Home/Florida Gators Football