Florida Football's Cormani McClain noted in behind the scenes deep dive of Colorado

Cormani McClain is not expected to be a starter for Florida Football in 2024, but the spotlight keeps finding a way to find him. Recently, his name was circulated for some behind-the-scenes struggles since arriving in Gainesville, the latest in a long line of notable events for the former five-star prospect out of Lakeland.

Prior to Florida, his time with Colorado wasn't a great one. But new details have emerged that paint a picture that it was for the best for McClain to come back to the Sunshine State.

Florida Football: Prime Time

We have highlighted Deion Sanders several times here at Hail Florida Hail and have stated that it wouldn't be in Florida's best interest to go after Prime Time should they need to move on from Billy Napier.

Part of our reasoning is that his shtick would never fly in Gainesville, and a new story from Athlon Sports paints a picture of chaos behind the scenes in Boulder.

Now, it should be noted that given the article uses quotes from anonymous players, it is difficult to validate whether or not these events happened. As of this writing, there has been mostly radio silence from Colorado, and McClain made a passing reference on Instagram that hinted elements of this article are overexaggerated.

The article dives into several wild elements of Colorado's program, but for McClain specifically, an anonymous player told Athlon that Shilo Sanders and McClain weren't exactly best friends while at Colorado.

"Cormani was taking a lot of heat from everyone," said the former player. "At the same time Coach Prime was saying he was in the doghouse and needed to improve, Cormani was getting bullied by Shilo (Sanders). After the Oregon State game, Shilo slapped him several times, which left Cormani screaming 'I'm going to kill you' repeatedly. After that, you could tell he wasn't mentally there. It's hard when the coaches you trust are calling you derogatory names on the practice field."

- Athlon Sports

Coach Sanders had called out McClain early in the season and insinuated that he wasn't doing the little things needed to be great. The irony of the Oregon State game being in question as a point of conflict is that according to Pro Football Focus, it was McClain's best game while in Colorado, with a rating of 72.2.

If even any part of Athlon's piece has a hint of truth to it, it sounds like it was in everyone's interest for McClain to find a new home. And given his lofty high school ranking, there is still hope McClain can turn it around and emerge as a solid player in due time.