Former Florida A&M defensive lineman Gentle Hunt has been one of the hottest names in the HBCU football transfer portal, after a back-and-forth offseason of deciding if he wanted to stay at FAMU or commit to one of his over 20 FBS offers. Hunt has made his decision and is heading play with the University of Illinois of the Big Ten Conference.
Gentle Hunt, a 5-foot-11 290-pound graduate senior from High Springs, Florida has had an active transfer portal season. His first foray into the portal came only weeks after winning an HBCU national championship with Florida A&M. Rumors of then-head coach Willie Simmons having been offered a position coach role at Duke University became red hot when Hunt dropped a “Please Respect My Decision” post on social media indicating that he was transferring from FAMU.
After an infamously rocky road to naming James Colzie III as the new head coach of Florida A&M, all seemed well at FAMU as Gentle Hunt and other Rattlers decided to exit the portal and stay with the new regime in Tallahassee. But by March, he was back in the portal, looking to take his game to the next level.
“What made me enter the portal is more exposure on a bigger platform along with more resources from whichever institution I decide to transfer to,” Hunt told 24/7 Sports. “My top priority is getting to the next level I am looking to play on big stage to showcase my skill set and I want to go with a winning culture.”
While Hunt was a highly sought-after prospect at the FBS level, he was still looking for that big-time Power Four conference offer. The Second Team All-SWAC selection had offers from Kent State, Ohio, and Liberty to name a few but went into May still waiting on a P4 offer.
On May 9 reports surfaced of Gentle Hunt committing to Rice University of the Americal Athletic Conference, only to see that three days later, Hunt was said to be taking an official visit to the University of Illinois. Three days after that, on May 15, Gentle Hunt put all the rumors to rest by posting “Committed 🧡 Last Ride…” with images of himself wearing the blue and orange of the Illini.
During his three seasons playing HBCU football at FAMU, Gentle Hunt had 89 tackles, 24.0 tackles for loss, and 11.5 sacks with 69 quarterback pressures. Although he’s considered undersized for his position at the Power Four level, his high production at the FCS level makes the staff at Illinois believe he can play in the Big Ten.