Florida’s football program recently replaced outgoing defensive secondary coach Corey Raymond with former Los Angeles Chargers assistant secondary coach [autotag]Will Harris[/autotag] on Sunday. So far, it looks like the new member of the Orange and Blue has not slowed things down.
This past weekend, four-star Alabama Crimson Tide cornerback commit [autotag]Jameer Grimsley[/autotag] out of Tampa (Florida) Catholic made a stop in Gainesville. The 6-foot-3-inch, 185-pound defensive back shared thoughts on his official visit with the Gators.
“I liked it,” Grimsley told Swamp247. “Good experience. Got to hang out with the players, experience school of the University of Florida and how things run up here, hang out more with the coaches.”
As far as the new hire, Grimsley appears to be warming up to the idea of Harris running things on D.
“Looking forward, they just got a new DB coach, Will Harris. They just hired him. Have to meet with him. We’ll see how things go from there. Meeting with the players, the defensive coordinator. I was hanging out with him a lot. When the DC wants you, that is good. He has a final say on defense.”
However, there is still a lot to learn about the new hire before spending face time with him.
“They were telling me he played for Pete Carroll. He was coaching in the NFL, so he must know a little something. I don’t really know too much about him. That is why I am looking forward to meeting with him.”
Napier and Co. have been in pursuit of Grimsley’s talents this fall, pushing hard back in October while making another strong stab for the blue-chip defender in November. The former coach made significant inroads with the high school senior before his departure, which Florida is still benefitting from.
“Although Coach Raymond was recruiting me, but they had offered me first as a receiver, so it wasn’t him that was necessarily recruiting me the whole time at the end of the day. Coach Napier was really the one.
“Obviously, C-Ray wanted me there, but he was the one who offers the kids. He makes all the offers. They can’t offer anyone else he verifies it with them. Everyone else one the staff wanted me he, it was just Coach Raymond, even though he was recruiting me.
“That kind of made me feel a little more comfortable about the situation. There are schools that have the position coach, and they are the one that lets them handle everything. I know the staff was involved in recruiting me here.”
Grimsely is ranked No. 166 overall and No. 17 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 169 and 22, respectively.
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