He wanted “attention and followers.” After a bizarre catfishing scam, in which he tried to dupe the esoteric, passionate NCAA football recruiting world into thinking he was a top-flight athlete whittling down his college destination, Unique Brissett II apparently got what he was after.
In reality, Brissett is a 20-year-old from the Bronx attending Westchester Community College, where he said he’s on track to graduate in 2019. For a few weeks, his internet persona was a wide receiver at Globe Institute of Technology junior college in New York, with a host of college football offers from, among others, Michigan, Michigan State, Miami, Penn State and Kentucky.
It all unraveled Monday, when web sleuths caught on to his scheme. A University of Miami football message board was wondering about this mystery prospect until 247Sports reporter Andrew Ivins reported Brissett has had “zero contact with the coaches to date.” He reported Kentucky coaches said the same.
Shortly before that disclosure, Michigan State reporter Luke Srodulski noticed Brissett had tweeted out a few pictures of his apparent visit to East Lansing — that were identical to some snaps another recruit had posted.
The farce was up, complete with national coverage when ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt picked up on one of the stranger catfishing tales the internet has seen.
But Unique Brissett II — which he said is his real name — is neither ashamed nor backing down. After a knee-jerk decision to delete his Twitter account, he quickly reappeared, basking in the newfound, obscure degree of fame bestowed on someone who pulls off a hoax that pulls in about 1,300 Twitter followers.
“Well me & my brother was watching college football & hudl’s & stuff,” Brissett told The Post in a message exchange over Twitter, referencing the recruiting website, “like that we was talking about it & then we both agreed we would do it (get fake offers ) then we was talking about what was our favorite college teams & then we started lying about the offers.”
Brissett declined to speak over the phone because of a “medical condition,” but appeared proud of the web of lies. All it took was a few lifted photos, co-opting another recruit’s highlight tape and a few lingering scouting reports from when he was a cornerback and wide receiver at Cardinal Spellman in the Bronx, he said, from 2012 to 2015.
“It was easy. I don’t think it was hard at all,” said Brissett, who said he would’ve simply stopped after a while if no one was giving him the attention — either for being a real hotshot prospect or for being a fake hotshot prospect.
“I was laughing. I was too hype,” Brissett said about the moment his story fell apart.
The only way his life has changed is a phone that won’t stop buzzing. He briefly pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes, and has he learned anything from this whole charade?
“Not really.”