The Florida Gators have been steadily building up their relationship with three-star Mableton, Georgia, linebacker [autotag]Caleb LaVallee [/autotag]over the last month or so and now the Whitefield Academy recruit has an offer from the university under his belt, according to a report from 247Sports.
Florida is far from the first to tender a scholarship to LaVallee as his offer count reaches 27 with this bid. The Gators are the second program in the Southeastern Conference to offer him though, and it’s hard for most recruits to turn down an opportunity to play in the best conference in college football. Vanderbilt was the first SEC team to go after LaVallee, but Florida quickly caught his attention.
“Florida has a great blend of two things that are the most important to me: football and academics,” LaVallee said. “They’re a great, great academic institution and they also play the best football that you can play and it’s in the SEC.”
Thankful and excited to receive an offer from The University of Florida!!! @CoachBateman @coach_bnapier @Mansell247 @SWiltfong247 @Andrew_Ivins @adamgorney @RivalsFriedman @RWrightRivals @CoachCJoiner @Coach_Krueg @RecruitGeorgia @JeremyO_Johnson @ErikRichardsUSA @AWilliamsUSA pic.twitter.com/yuTDalqEW7
— Caleb LaVallee (@CalebLaVallee1) April 22, 2022
LaVallee plans to take an unofficial visit to Gainesville in the near future, although no date has been set just yet. After that, he’ll decide which schools deserve official visits over the summer and who will be in his top five. Florida has a good chance to be one of those five.
“I feel like Florida really has a good chance of jumping into the top list because of the caliber of all the things I talked about,” he said. “The visit that I’ll have when I go down there will be big for making my decision about where they stand.”
Until then, Florida inside linebackers coach [autotag]Jay Bateman[/autotag] will continue to develop his relationship with LaVallee. The Gators like his versatility in the middle of the defense and see him playing various roles on the defense. That fits LaVallee’s self-proclaimed “daredevil” mentality on the field and should be a good fit if he does end up committing.
The 247Sports composite ranks LaVallee as the No. 576 overall recruit in the class of 2023 and the No. 48 linebacker.
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