Inside the screenshot picture of Bissainthe: Recruit manipulation at play?

Miami Central High School LB Wesley Bissainthe caused some Category 5 size waves yesterday when a photo of him was posted on social media by a Florida State recruiting site.

In the photo, Bissainthe is wearing an FSU jersey and making an upside down U during a Tallahassee unofficial visit.

CaneSport caught up with Bissainthe on Saturday morning, and he did some explaining.

Yes, he made a mistake.

Yes, he got caught up in the moment when an FSU coach told him to do that with him. No, he shouldn’t have done it.

And he never wanted that to get out publicly.

Bissainthe says his first step in making amends to Miami coaches and the fan base is showing up at Paradise Camp today. He won’t be participating, but wants to clear the air with UM staff.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” Bissainthe said. “They (FSU coaches) suggested it, I didn’t mean anything by it. I regret it, you don’t want to do anything like that. You live and learn by your mistakes.”

He adds “It wasn’t supposed to get out - it was on live, someone screenshotted it off the live. ... As soon as it got out I knew it would be pretty hectic. My friends were like `What are you doing?!?'”

Bissainthe says at Paradise Camp when he talks with coaches “I know it’s going to get brought up. I’m just going to tell them it’s no beef or anything toward Miami, I’m just enjoying the process and things like that.”

Bissainthe says he will announce a decision on signing day in December, and so far he’s taken official visits to UM, West Virginia and Penn State. All three remain in his picture along with FSU, which is expected to get a fall official visit.

And no, FSU isn’t ahead of UM.

“I don’t have any school ahead,” he says. “We’re going to see on signing day.”

CaneSport’s take

We would urge fans, as disrespectful as the picture appeared on the outside, to cut this high school kid a break. An adult asks him to do something, he gets caught up in the moment and regrets it. It's borderline manipulation depending on your perspective, considering he was asked to do it and then had it screenshotted and sent out by an FSU site. We’ve all made mistakes, so let’s cut him some slack and see what happens next. Miami needs him in this class.