FSU head coach Willie Taggart speaks to the media prior to speaking at the Panama City spring booster tour event.
Wayne E McGahee III, Democrat staff writer
There has been a recent trend among college football coaches to tout the players that they've produced in the NFL on social media.
Some are even including players that they had absolutely no hand in coaching.
Former Florida State tight ends coach Tim Brewster tried to claim cornerback Jalen Ramsey for Jimbo Fisher recently, and Ramsey was having none of it.
Ramsey called out Brewster saying that Fisher "never taught him one DB technique" during his time at FSU.
Tennessee coaches Jeremy Pruitt and Charles Kelly — both former FSU defensive coordinators — claimed a whole list of FSU defensive backs on Thursday.
That one isn't as big of a deal considering they had a direct hand in coaching those players, even though the graphic had Ronald Darby's name spelled incorrectly.
But it took an even more ridiculous turn on Friday morning when former FSU defensive ends coach and current Florida coach Sal Sunseri tried to claim three players he had no business claiming.
Derrick Nnadi, Josh Sweat, and Rick Leonard were credited to Sal Sunseri in the graphic.
Nnadi is a defensive tackle, and wasn't coached by Sunseri.
Sweat was never coached by Sunseri, who left FSU for the Raiders less than a month after Sweat arrived on FSU's campus.
Leonard was drafted as an offensive tackle by the Saints after moving over from defensive end.
Sunseri has deleted the tweet after receiving backlash on social media, but screenshots last forever.
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Yes, Sunseri had a hand in recruiting all three players to FSU, but had virtually no impact on any of the three players making it to the NFL.
The whole thing about claiming players that played at other programs is ridiculous in the first place.
Even if Sunseri had coached those players, Florida trying to claim three players from FSU is ridiculous, especially considering those players never lost to UF during their time at FSU.
Tennessee's graphic had a bunch of players that Pruitt coached at Alabama, you know, one of the Volunteer's biggest rivals.
It's a trend that makes a small bit of sense overall, but does it really help more than hurt the coaches making the claims?
Coaches try to get every advantage they can in recruiting, and showing off all the players that a coach has sent to the NFL is a good idea.
But even when a coach has a great claim to those players — like Pruitt and Kelly and the players they've coached — it's a double-edged sword promoting the other team as well.
When it looks like this — where the coach has such a small and insignificant claim on the player's success — it's more ridiculous than helpful.
Especially when one of the players listed calls the coach out on social media like Nnadi and Ramsey did.