Earlier in the week, it appeared that Florida had landed nose tackle Samu Taumanupepe from Baylor. Even though Taumanupepe hasn’t taken many snaps in his college football career, he was an intriguing player due to his sheer size and had a pathway to be a rotational player along the defensive line for the Gators in 2026.
But emblematic of the modern era of college football, Taumanupepe won’t be coming to Gainesville as he has already flipped his commitment less than 48 hours later.
Baylor commit already flips from Florida
Just as soon as Taumanupepe committed to the Gators, he has flipped, and it was reported on Saturday that he will be heading to Colorado instead. As active as Florida has been in the transfer portal, Taumanupepe now makes the 38th player that Colorado has added via the portal.
So why the sudden change of heart for Taumanupepe?
At this point, who knows? But given the modern era of college football, there are two distinct possibilities:
- Colorado offered more NIL money than Florida was willing to dole out.
- Taumanupepe had a better pathway to playing time at Colorado than at Florida.
Taumanupepe is listed at 6’3” and 375 pounds, and he was going to fill a need for the Gators, who are still needing to beef up the defensive line after Micahi Boireau left for Ole Miss in the transfer portal. But given that Taumanupepe has taken 49 snaps over the course of three seasons in college to this point, even with that size, it’s also fair to question how much of a setback this is for the Gators this offseason.
With his departure, Florida has officially landed 23 players out of the transfer portal to this point. Along the defensive line, they have landed Baylor’s DK Kalu and Jacksonville State’s Emmanuel Oyebadejo.