Highly Coveted FSU Transfer LB Amari Gainer Picks Tar Heels Over Mountaineers

After much hype and a bit of a troll job, the highly coveted Florida State transfer linebacker Amari Gainer commits to North Carolina.

West Virginia fans were getting excited throughout the day due to Gainer continuously liking and retweeting tweets from WVU fans and media, including our content at WVSN.

Florida State linebacker transfer Amari Gainer, who has been weighing his options while wrapping up his tenure with the Seminoles, is going to be a Tar Heel and not a Mountaineer. Gainer announced his decision on Friday less than 24 hours after helping FSU win the Cheez-It Bowl over Oklahoma.

WVU instantly started courting Gainer the moment he made himself available and entered the Transfer Portal. Despite the strong effort from head coach Neal Brown and his staff, Gainer decided to stay in the ACC and finish out his college career with North Carolina. Alabama even made a late push for the veteran linebacker.

But at the end of the day, Gainer did not pick West Virginia as the right place for him even with a reunion opportunity with his former high school teammate quarterback Garrett Greene as sales pitch for WVU. Greene publicly petitioned for Gainer to join him in Morgantown with a “let’s run it back!” tweet earlier in the week.

WVU QB Garrett Greene to FSU Transfer LB Amari Gainer: ‘Let’s Run it Back!’

Gainer would have brought necessary experience at the major conference level to a WVU defense that will be without several leaders from the 2022 defense come 2023. Limited in 2022 due to injury, Gainer was still the active leader in career tackles at Florida State with 210 tackles from his five total seasons. He also put up 19 tackles for loss, six sacks and five forced fumbles. He played in seven games this past season, making one start and recorded 17 tackles and a sack.