Not a good look for Mannie Nunnery. (Photo via Florida Gators)
Earlier this offseason, former Florida defensive end Princely Umanmielen put on a master class in how to burn bridges on your way out the door. Last night, his former teammate Mannie Nunnery showed that he’d apparently taken that class– and one-upped him. Welcome to portal season!
Nunnery, a linebacker, did some good things for the Gators in 2023 after transferring in from Houston. He was in the right place a good amount of the time, made some tackles, and put together some good tape. He also, um, did some things that were less than good– like failing to drop back far enough on a fourth and 17 against Missouri, allowing Luther Burden to puncture the Gator defense for a game-saving catch in what would become a 33-31 Missouri win.
So it made sense when he entered the portal this past January. It seemed like a good move for both sides. Nunnery would get a fresh start at a third school, and Billy Napier would get some more of his hand-picked linebacker signees into action.
Except: Mannie Nunnery promptly withdrew from the portal nine days later– why that is, I’ll allow you, the reader to speculate for yourself– and rejoined the Gators for spring practice. And it seemed, at least to those on the outside looking in, that he was doing a good job at re-acclimating himself to the Gator program. He even picked off a pass in the spring game.
But then came Tuesday night– and a puzzling development. Nunnery re-entered the transfer portal, and this time, he didn’t go quietly. No, he publicly blasted his defensive coordinator, Austin Armstrong on his way out the door.
It’s perfectly understandable for players to be unhappy with things after being labeled a scapegoat for a horrendous defense, and I’ll even grant Nunnery grace in expressing frustration publicly. But there’s a way to do it that doesn’t engulf your bridges in flames. Something like, “It didn’t work out for me in Gainesville, but I wish the program the best” or even “it just wasn’t a good fit, but best of luck” could have gotten that message across that he was unhappy, while at the same time not alienating the program or, worse yet, giving other schools reason to believe he’s a problem child.
Instead, for those of you who don’t have social media, he said: “Play a n***a the whole spring on the line of scrimmage and want a n***a to be super hero when a n***a get hurt… People crazy lol I’m the bad guy cause a guy who get a million dollars called a bullshit play on 4th and 16… shit on me and then want me to be a super hero for yo bad play calling ass…” (To his credit, he did delete it– but not before fans captured screenshots of it.)
Not smart, Mannie.
Even ignoring the profanities– and yes, the word with stars across it is exactly the one you think it is– and even if he is correct that he was following his assignment (which I have reason to believe is not the case)– Mannie Nunnery has to know better. I mean, he just has to. If he was a 17-year-old freshman, it would be one thing, but he’s a fifth-year senior now and this is the third time that he’s gone through the portal process. Billy Napier is a very nice man– that’s pretty well-documented– but Nunnery is really testing his patience and leaving things up to chance when another school calls to ask about him.
As a fan/journalist hybrid, I have nothing against Mannie Nunnery, but this is just objectively such a bad idea that I can’t not write about it. That’s got to be one of the more ill-advised parting messages I’ve seen in a long time. I mean, really, what did he think would happen by calling out his defensive coordinator like that?
Did he actually think that would endear him to other schools? Did he really think he was beating other schools to the punch by explaining his side of things in such a defensive manner that he throws his coach under the bus? Did he legitimately believe that another school’s coach would see that play on tape and say, “well, that looks pretty bad, but he lambasted his defensive coordinator on social media so it’s all good, that explains it perfectly”?
So this is a lesson to other players who are leaving their schools on bad terms as much as it is anything else. There’s a time and place to air that dirty laundry, but it’s not while you’re trying to make a good impression on other schools and attempting to convince them to offer you a scholarship and their NIL collective to offer you a nice NIL deal.
Best of luck to Mannie Nunnery in all he does moving forward. Hopefully he learns from this.
