Florida Bar puts employee on leave over racist messages sent to Miami's Damon Wilson II

The Florida Bar has put one of its employees on administrative leave while it investigates racist, homophobic and violent messages sent to Miami defensive lineman Damon Wilson II after the Hurricanes beat Florida State 43-35 in double overtime on Saturday.

The Associated Press first reported the leave on Tuesday, and On3 followed up. Both identified the employee as Kade McLendon, a computer technician at the Bar. The messages came from an Instagram account under McLendon's name. Wilson posted screenshots of them to his Instagram story on Sunday. According to the Tampa Bay Times, there were 12 messages in all, with repeated racial and homophobic slurs, references to slavery and a threat against Wilson's family. The paper also reported that McLendon's Instagram and LinkedIn accounts were taken down Monday. Screenshots of the LinkedIn profile, saved before it disappeared, said he had worked at the Bar since June 2024 and graduated from Florida State. He could not be reached for comment.

The Bar first said it was aware of the messages and had opened an internal investigation. On Tuesday it went further. A spokesperson, Jennifer Krell Davis, said in a statement the messages were "ethically and morally reprehensible" and broke the Bar's social media policy for employees. She added that the review would respect any due process rights. Yahoo Sports reported that McLendon has worked at the Bar for about two and a half years.

Wilson's teammates have spoken up for him this week. Offensive lineman Ryan Rodriguez told the AP that the matter was bigger than football. Wilson is in his first season at Miami after earlier stops at Georgia and Missouri, and he has 3.5 sacks so far. Last year at Missouri he had a career-high nine.

The abuse followed a game that had already left plenty of anger behind. In the second overtime, an apparent Florida State touchdown on fourth-and-21 was called back for holding. On3 reported that Seminoles coach Mike Norvell later called the penalty a joke and took his complaint to the head of officials. Miami stopped a final play near the goal line to win, and On3 reported that the Hurricanes moved to No. 1 in the AP poll afterward.

What it means for Pittsburgh week

None of this changes Miami's lineup. Wilson faces no discipline, and nothing reported suggests he will miss time. The Hurricanes are 6-0 and host Pittsburgh on Saturday, Oct. 24 (ESPN / Disney+). The Florida State game was their closest so far. Before it, they had won 41-13 at Clemson, 33-20 at Wake Forest and 45-6 at Stanford. Allowing 35 points to the Seminoles is the one mark against a defense that had given up 13 or fewer in four of its first five games. For Florida State, the loss dropped the Seminoles to 3-4. They have a week off before Clemson visits on Oct. 31.

Miami is a heavy favorite across the board for Pittsburgh at Miami, which has 11 venues listed. Novig has the Hurricanes at -1329 on the moneyline. The best Miami price anywhere is -1185 at Polymarket. Pittsburgh is +1076 at Novig and +1100 at Hard Rock Bet. On the spread, Novig has Miami favored by 19.5 at -111, while BetMGM offers Pittsburgh +20.5 at -110. The total sits at 50.5 on Novig, with Hard Rock Bet at 51.5. Sportsbook hold on the moneyline runs from 3.2% to 5.2%, so prices differ only modestly from one venue to the next.