Inside the wild final hours of 5-star Travis Hunter's recruitment

Five-Star Plus+ Suwanee (Ga.) Collins Hill athlete Travis Hunter surprised everyone in the recruiting industry Wednesday when he flipped his commitment from Florida State to FCS Jackson State and head coach Deion Sanders.

His process, and his ultimate decision, wasn’t just a stunner for everyone covering it. According to On3 Director of Recruiting Chad Simmons, even those close to him didn’t see it coming.

In a Twitter Spaces event, Simmons broke down what exactly happened in by far the most shocking recruiting decision in recent memory.

Tuesday evening

Coaches at Collins Hill High School outline a plan with Hunter to come in early Wednesday morning, sign his national letter of intent and send it into Florida State immediately following. He was expected to have a relatively small signing ceremony to make it official.

Also that night, Sanders makes a declaration on the Unnecessary Roughness podcast.

“Let me tell you guys this,” Sanders said. “Signing Day is tomorrow. I’m going on record to tell you guys that we are going to shock the country. I’m telling you right now; you heard it from me. We’re going to shock the country.”

He also tweets out a GIF of him with the caption “You know what time it is.”

Early Wednesday morning

Hunter doesn’t show up to Collins Hill with his letter of intent, and Collins Hill coaches try to get in touch with him to find out where he is. They repeatedly call and text him, to no avail. When his NLI doesn’t arrive at Florida State, Seminoles coaches try to get in touch with him to find out when they can expect it. He doesn’t answer them either. Florida State coaches begin calling the staff at Collins Hill, and both tell each other that they haven’t heard from Hunter at all this morning.

Just after 9 a.m., Hunter tweets “Time to Make History #GodBlessing.”

Later Wednesday morning

Rumors begin swirling on Twitter about Hunter, a name, image and likeness deal, and Jackson State. On3’s Jeremy Johnson and 247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong both begin hearing rumblings that there are legs to the rumors.

Wiltfong says on CBSSports HQ that he’s hearing there is legitimacy to Hunter decommitting from the Seminoles. Shortly after, Simmons got intel that Hunter was indeed heading to Jackson State and changed his On3 Expert Prediction from the Seminoles to the Tigers. At almost the same time, Yahoo! national college football writer Pete Thamel tweets that the Florida State staff has been informed Hunter is going to flip to Jackson State.

Noon on Wednesday

Hunter goes live on Instagram in a quickly thrown-together ceremony at Collins Hill High School. After some delay, he announces that he will team up with Coach Prime. He tosses a Florida State hat off the table and reveals a Jackson State shirt before an audience member tosses him a JSU hat. Simultaneously, a message is posted on Hunter’s Twitter account confirming the news.

As news breaks, college football and recruiting pundits react, in addition to other recruits around the country. Soon after, Florida State coach Mike Norvell posts this on Twitter:

“Great day for student-athletes across the country getting to live out a childhood dream of signing a college scholarship. Respect decisions and celebrate accomplishments. Grateful to be a part of such a wonderful program representing incredible young men and the #NoleFamily.”

Later in the afternoon, Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was asked on the Paul Finebaum Show about Hunter’s flip and the rumored NIL deal that comes along with it.

“You can’t say, ‘I’m going to get you an NIL deal.’ That’s illegal,” Fisher said. “All you can do is present what other players in your university have done in the past. That is all you’re allowed to do. There were a lot of NIL deals going on before all this was going on. They just weren’t legal. Nobody told nobody.”

Wednesday evening

After the dust is settled, Simmons says that while Hunter’s decision was shocking, the fact that he did something eye-opening is not.

“Travis Hunter has always been about the brand,” Simmons added.

Asked if this could be the beginning of a trend with top prospects spurning elite programs for HBCUs, Simmons summed it up succinctly: “There’s only one Travis Hunter, and there’s only one Deion Sanders.”