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George Gumbs Jr. on midfield flag plant at FSU: 'I would do it again'

FaceProfileby:Thomas Goldkamp•03/11/25
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Florida Gators outside linebacker George Gumbs Jr. celebrates a sack against UCF (Photo courtesy of @GatorsFB)

There were multiple dustups last year involving flags being planted at midfield during big rivalry games. And while Michigan–Ohio State took center stage, Florida linebacker George Gumbs Jr. got his share of the spotlight too.

Gumbs planted a flag on the 50-yard line at Doak Campbell Stadium following his team’s 31-11 win. Florida State coach Mike Norvell took exception.

After the game, even Florida coach Billy Napier called the incident ’embarrassing.’ George Gumbs is unapologetic.

“I would do it again,” he said after his team’s spring practice on Tuesday. Why?

Well, there was more that went into the flag plant than just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Florida State cut up sod from Florida’s field the year prior, taking it as a token of victory.

That didn’t sit well with the Gators. George Gumbs included.

He took some time during the offseason program to join Hightop Sports to discuss the incident in a bit more detail. Suffice it to say, he knew the history of the rivalry going in.

“Leading up to the game I knew Florida-Florida State was a big rivalry,” he said. “I’d seen it on TV plenty of times when I was younger. I’m like, dang, I know that game is electric. Then like that week I was just seeing all the things they did to our field the previous year before I was there. I’m like, ‘OK, I don’t like that. I don’t like that one bit.’

“So after everything was said and done and I made a couple plays on the field I was like, ‘OK, let me just stamp this game.’ I found a flag and I was on the sideline on the 50, right there waiting. As soon as the clock hit zero, ran out there and planted that thing.”

Napier, of course, would probably prefer his players don’t engage in that kind of thing in the future. And George Gumbs, by all accounts being a reliable teammate, likely will abide by that.

But he’ll always have the memory of the first flag plant. Because things didn’t explode, the storyline is fast fading. Still, he knows he got one in.

“I hear it here and there, but not as much,” George Gumbs said Tuesday. “It was fun. It was fun. It was just like once I stamped it that was like me stamping the game.”