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As far as Tasha Black was concerned, the decision about where her son— Diwun Black‍ —would attend college was simple. The University of Florida was her first, final and best choice.

There were several factors that made the case as far as Mom was concerned.

“I didn’t want him to stay close to home because of the trouble he could possibly get in, so I actually wanted him to get further away if possible,” she tells Inside the Gators.

Then there are the academics, which she says is the most important part in her book. She’s been studying, making sure her son will be able to study as well, and has been more than pleased with what she’s learned.

“I got pamphlets on it and I’ve been doing a lot of Googling to make sure he got the tutoring and stuff that he gonna need…they say they got one of the best academic programs in actually the country.”

But for her son, a consensus four-star athlete, there were extenuating factors on his end as well and they were what had the Forest, MS native committing to Mississippi State, then Ole Miss, while initially shying away from Gainesville.

“He said ‘Naw I don’t want to go to Florida; it’s too far, you won’t be able to come to games’ cause I had never rode a plane before.”

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Then it came time for Friday Night Lights, the Gators annual recruiting event to end the summer. Black and his mom boarded a plane for the Sunshine State and when the 2019 athlete saw her make the flight, things begin to change.

“Now that I rode a plane he said ‘ok well Florida wouldn’t be a problem if you can get on a plane and just come.’”

Diwun, despite feeling like he needed to stay in Mississippi, had started to talk longingly around the house about joining Dan Mullen and the Gators. His mom knew he was thinking about it and after realizing the distance wouldn’t be much of a factor, flipping seemed a given. But even Tasha didn’t know it would happen so soon.

Inside the Gators Diwun Black at FNL

During Friday Night Lights Diwun had a video crew following him around. Up in the skybox mom watched, wondering what the heck he had going on, she laughingly recalls. Finally on Sunday, when it was time to return to Mississippi, he let his mom in on the secret. He was flipping to Florida.

Back home in the Magnolia State, she says going out in public right now means hearing harping from locals.

“Yes that’s all I hear. ‘He needs to stay in Mississippi, he needs to stay at home.’ I hear that a lot. But then you got some that say ‘no get him away from here, he might get in trouble.’ It’s kinda half and half.”

As much as Tasha has been championing for him making the near 600-mile move, she admits there is the understandable trepidation of her son being so far from home.

“For any family, especially mom—a single mom—when it’s just been you and your kids, it’s hard but at the end of the day we want to see them succeed. It’s gotta be hard your child leaving the nest and going out in the big world alone.”

But the thing that really gives her comfort, that helps her sleep at night as she tells it, is that she’s sending him to someone who’s felt like family from the beginning.

“He talks about Dan Mullen all the time. The conversations they have. His dad is not in his life and hasn’t been in his life, so he said they got like a special, like a father-son relationship…Dan Mullen [and his] relationship is like [with] no other coaches I’ve seen.”

It was the catalyst and ultimately the deciding factor in his decision to commit to Florida. And now that he’s in, he’s fully in and bringing every one with him. After an offseason during which Mullen has been labeled as a non-elite recruiter, the conversation has taken a bit of a different tone with the addition of the 4-star Black. While it’s to early to share names, the topic about Mullen and the Gators recruiting status will continue to evolve based on the conversations Tasha Black has been overhearing in her home—and again thanks to Black.

“He’s actually changed a lot of minds from guys that were going to different schools. I think when Black flipped, a lot of guys flipped because he flipped and I always told him to be a leader.

“He actually got a lot more guys thinking about coming to Florida. He’s on video chat all night talking to guys and actually talking to their moms about them coming to Florida.”

Diwun Black is on his way to Florida and he’s bringing friends. As far as Tasha Black is concerned, that’s a pretty easy decision.