Behind the scenes: How Marcus Stokes flipped his commitment

The Florida Gators got their quarterback for the 2023 recruiting class by poaching James Franklin and Penn State. A lot of prospects call an offer a “dream” but 2023 quarterback recruit Marcus Stokes meant it, even if he kept the offer a secret.

Originally from Maryland, Stokes moved to the Jacksonville area to attend Nease High School. Quarterback trainer Denny Thompson remembers the first time he saw Stokes as a high school freshman.

“He moved here from Maryland, I think his ninth grade year, and somebody referred him to me,” Thompson said on the Gators Online Podcast. “I don’t know who this kid is. I just put him in our general last group for training. He comes walking up and he’s like, tiny.”

First impressions may not have been strong for a 14-year-old Stokes but he quickly changed minds and turned heads at Six Points Jacksonville.

“Then I saw him throw a football. It was just like, Wow, this kid’s got a level of creativity in the way he throws the football,” Thompson said. “And in a range of arm angles that even young like that, it was like, okay, we can have some fun with this kid.”

Stokes isn’t that little kid anymore. He, with the help of Thompson’s training, has turned himself into one of the best quarterbacks in the country and schools came calling.

Timeline for Stokes and his recruitment

Stokes unofficially visited the Gators in March but didn’t hold an offer from Billy Napier. He continued touring campuses. Stokes went to Florida State, Ole Miss, Indiana, and then Penn State all in the month of April.

His trip to Penn State on April 7 led to a commitment the following day. Even though Stokes dreamed of an offer from the Gators, he was content in Happy Valley. He went back and officially visited on April 10.

“He’s unique in that when you watch this film, I think most people come away and go, ‘Oh, he’s fine’,” Thompson said. “But what you don’t say always is, ‘Powerful.’ Right? And so when he went to Florida, Florida had never seen him throw in person.”

That would soon change.

Stokes went to a 7-on-7 camp that Florida was hosting. It would be the first time for Napier and Ryan O’Hara to see Stokes live. As Thompson told Gators Online, Napier can be very particular when evaluating quarterbacks.

Earning the offer

Stokes went to Gainesville and ripped it. The rising senior quickly turned heads and Thompson’s phone lit up. O’Hara was in awe.

“Florida, once they saw it in person, they were giddy about Marcus. This was before the whole (Jaden) Rashada thing. They were legitimately excited and giddy,” Thompson said. “(The UF staff was like), ‘Okay what do we have to do here to get him? We don’t want to just operate. We want to get him’. And so I think once you see Marcus throw in person, it just it almost shocks you a little bit.”

Thompson didn’t think Stokes would flip his commitment. He was solid to Penn State. They had offered him first, it felt like home and he felt wanted there.

The Gators knew they needed to act fast if they wanted to earn a commitment from him. The conversations lasted a couple of days. There were face-to-face meetings and then the offer came right before Stokes was set to leave for the Elite 11 camp.

“They offered and we talked about it,” Thompson said. ”And Marcus had not posted any other offer out of respect to Penn State. And he said, ‘I’m gonna do the same thing with this, and I’m going to go to Elite 11 and I’m gonna enjoy myself there, and then we’ll make a decision.’”

The thing is, outside of Florida, Thompson, and the Stokes’ family, nobody knew he had even earned the offer from Florida.

The Flip

Stokes went to the Elite 11 but didn’t have the week he would have liked. Whether it was the recent Florida offer and a tough decision or other factors, he left the camp disappointed.

“It added a lot of drama to his life and then he went straight from there to Elite 11. And I think that weighed on him while he was there, quite a bit,” Thompson said. “These people are asking me all these questions about Penn State. I don’t know what I’m going to do, but at the same time, I don’t want it to seem like I’m wishy-washy. It’s a quick way to mature.”

Stokes let the offer sit silently on social media until July 7. In a video put together in less than an hour, Thopson and Stokes sat down at Six Points Training Facility in Jacksonville and announced to the world that he would be a Gator.

A lot went into the decision. It’s close to home. It’s a dream school for the quarterback that will allow his family to attend games easily. Looking at the quarterback room, it was advantageous for his future. It was a difficult call to James Franklin, one of the hardest moments of the young man’s life, but it would be his final decision.

“If you look at Florida’s quarterback room, I think when you look at every offer he had, I think that’s maybe the most attractive quarterback room from the standpoint of you don’t know what’s going to happen after Anthony,” Thompson said. “I’m not saying it’s going to be Marcus. I personally think they’ll go Transfer Portal again (assuming Anthony Richardson leaves after the 2022 season). But, you know, if Marcus gets there, throws on the weight that he needs to throw on, and continues to play, he’ll be the starting quarterback for the University of Florida for the next three years.”