Players are taking to social media to announce offers to play college football at FGCU. Only problem is, FGCU doesn't have a football team.

More than 100 football players from around the country took to social media over the past week saying they received "offers" to play college football at Florida Gulf Coast University.

One problem: FGCU does not have an intercollegiate football program among its 15 NCAA-sanctioned sports.

What FGCU does have is a football club, which just finished its second season with a 6-2 record. The team is coached by Kevin Van Duser, who said he sent emails to prospective players telling them if they chose to attend FGCU, they would be guaranteed a roster spot.

"This past season's success brought us a lot of publicity and traffic to our website, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram with hundreds of kids across the country asking for us to look at their film," Van Duser said.  "Last week, myself and three of my coaches began to watch film that was being sent to us. The kids we wanted to offer a spot we got to know." 

He added the club received 728 emails "from players looking for an opportunity to play at the next level. Even though we are a club team, these players from all over the country are just looking for a chance to play and get more film, or continue to play the game they love."

University Vice President and Chief of Staff Susan Evans said the statement was issued to clear up the confusion caused by the numerous tweets sent out by athletes.

“There’s just been a large amount of social media chatter, young people congratulating each other on offers to play football at FGCU,” Evans said. “We just wanted to clear up a few things in case there was some confusion. First off, these offers aren’t being made by anyone in the athletic program as the football club isn’t affiliated with our athletic program. Second, any of these players getting so-called offers would have to apply for admission to the school just like anyone else. And third, there are no plans for football to be added as an NCAA sport.”

The statement added that a "non-employee, volunteer with the football sport club has extended “offers” to come to FGCU and play football to more than 100 individuals across the country. This has been done without FGCU’s knowledge or sanction, and has caused a great deal of confusion to not only the individuals receiving the “offers” but to others reading accounts on social media."

Van Duser said he was meeting with FGCU officials Thursday to discuss the situation, saying no scholarships were ever offered.

What he did offer per a form email he sent to players was, "If you would like to post that you have been offered a spot on our roster you can certainly do that. However, please do not post anything false, such as you have been offered a full scholarship or any scholarship please. Or that you have a D1 offer, we are a club team, not D1. You are however, offered a spot on our roster.”

Van Duser described his team in the email as "FGCU club football" and states "We are not in the NCAA and we are not affiliated with the FGCU athletic department." It added that, "As a club team, we do not have any scholarships for players. You would have to pay for your schooling and housing, etc."

Palm Beach Village Academy coach Gad Jacobs said he was pretty unfamiliar with the FGCU club before seeing his player Dante Troutman tweeted out he had an offer this weekend.

“Your guess is as good as mine, I had to do my own research,” Jacobs said. “I know they don’t have (an NCAA) program and I don’t think they’re really offering anything besides a roster spot through a text message or email. But you know these kids these days. They’ll jump on anything and post they got an offer.”

Palmetto Ridge defensive end Ethan Pratt was one of the players receiving an offer, and he re-iterated what Van Duser said in the email.

“It was all explained to us really well,” Pratt said. “They’re offering roster spots, not a scholarship.”

Van Duser said local businesses have offered to donate $2,000 scholarships over the next four years, but the club has not received any of those or assigned them to players.

“Our goal as a staff and organization is ultimately to help students and improve lives,” he said. “We also have a goal to help local players in town to get back in school and have another chance.”

Email FGCU club football team sent to prospective players

Here is more info About FGCU Club Football: We are currently a club football team in the NCFA South Atlantic conference. We are not in the NCAA and we are not affiliated with the FGCU Athletic department. Since we are not in the NCAA, we do not have GPA rules or credit requirements. Our players must be enrolled in a minimum of 3 credits (one class)and pay the on campus participation fee, and they are eligible to play for us. Although we have team GPA requirements to hold you accountable in the classroom and will be encouraging you to take a full class load to graduate in 4 years. As a club team, we do not have any scholarships for players. You would have to pay for your schooling and housing, etc. 

If you have not heard about our school, we are in Ft Myers Florida. The campus is INCREDIBLE! You have to look up pictures of the campus online. 

Lastly, because we are not an NCAA team, we are not run as a business, we are a family. We also welcome any and all FGCU students to our team as a club team. We do not “cut” any players but we will choose a “travel team” for each game capped at 50 dressed players per NCFA rules. 

As a club team, we practice a lot less then most college football levels so that guys can live their lives, enjoy college and work if they want to. We are still very much dedicated to greatness and winning. We won our regular season conference this past year and plan to play for a NCFA National championship every year.    

If you would like to post that you have been offered a spot on our roster you can certainly do that. However please do not post anything false, such as you have been offered a full scholarship or any scholarship please. Or that you have a D1 offer, we are a club team not D1. You are however, offered a spot on our roster. Please tag myself and @FootballFGCU.  If you would like to come to fgcu and help build this program with us, start by applying here:  https://www.fgcu.edu/admissionsandaid/

FGCU statement on club football "offers"

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) is a member of the Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), successfully operating with 15 intercollegiate sports for student-athletes. These sports do not include football, nor are there plans to add football to FGCU Athletics. There is, however, a Campus Recreation football sport club, run by student club members who schedule competitions with sports clubs at other universities and colleges.

Unfortunately, we have been notified that a non-employee, volunteer with the  sport club has extended “offers” to come to FGCU and play football to more than 100 individuals across the country. This has been done without FGCU’s knowledge or sanction, and has caused a great deal of confusion to not only the individuals receiving the “offers” but to others reading accounts on social media. These 100+ individuals may not realize the “offer” has nothing to do with our NCAA intercollegiate athletics program, or with the normal process that prospective students use to apply and gain admission to the University. Any offers to participate in any of FGCU’s Division I Athletics’ sports teams are made through official recruitment in accordance with NCAA rules regulations.