Tag: Coaches visit

Florida football coach to visit JUCO defensive lineman on Tuesday

Russ Calloway will be in Kansas on Tuesday to meet up with a coveted JUCO recruit.

Florida football returns to the recruiting trail now that the NCAA transfer portal is officially open and the Gators’ sights are currently set on one standout JUCO player.

Three-star defensive lineman [autotag]Malcolm Alcorn-Crowder[/autotag], a redshirt freshman currently at Butler (Kansas) Community College, is scheduled to host Florida’s tight ends coach Russ Callaway on Tuesday. The 6-foot-6-inch, 297-pound behemoth received an offer a few weeks ago while Sean Spencer was still on the staff and it appears that Napier and Co. plan to follow through with the late-blooming student-athlete.

“I like the atmosphere at Florida, fans and competition. They are in the SEC and play a lot of great teams every year,” Alcorn-Crowder previously told Gators Online. “The coaching staff is always good and they always produce defensive linemen. Those were really the main points I liked.”

The Miami Hurricanes, Minnesota Golden Gophers, North Carolina State Wolfpack, Maryland Terrapins, Mississippi State Bulldogs, Cincinnati Bearcats and South Florida Bulls are also in the mix for the Bay State product.

“(Florida is) definitely up there on my list,” he also told On3. “They have a good coaching staff and always produce defensive linemen, so they are definitely up there on my list.”

Graduating in December, the defender plans on making his decision after visiting a handful of schools — a list that includes Mississippi State, Miami and Cincinnati.

Alcorn-Crowder is ranked No. 25 overall and No. 8 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite JUCO. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has the Kansas State Wildcats on top with a 74.9% chance of landing him, followed by the Connecticut Huskies (2.1%), Massachusetts Minutemen (1.8%) and N.C. State (1.5%).

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Florida coaches planning in-home visit with Peach State OT

Florida coaches, including head coach Billy Napier, are expected in McDonough, Georgia, on Friday to see three-star offensive tackle Favour Edwin.

The recruiting contact period is set to open back up on Dec. 1, and the Florida Gators will be sending coaches to McDonough, Georgia, to see Eagle’s Landing Christian offensive tackle Favour Edwin, according to On3’s Corey Bender.

The 6-foot-8-inch, 290-pound lineman is a consensus three-star recruit ranked among the top 40 offensive tackles in the class of 2024. Auburn is the current favorite to land him, according to On3’s recruiting prediction machine, but Alabama and Florida remain in the race.

The Gators aren’t sending random members of the staff on this last-minute push either. Head coach Billy Napier and co-offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton are among the names expected in McDonough Friday.

The early signing period is just three weeks away, so Edwin will likely make a decision just after he meets with Florida’s coaches.

“I’m getting really close,” Edwin said. “I have to start figuring it out and have to decide real fast. I think (it will be in the next few days). Really think so. And I’ll just put it out there (when I’m ready).”

Florida has four offensive linemen under commitment, including four-star tackles Marcus Mascoll and Fletcher Westphal. Edwin is ranked higher than the other two tackles committed to UF, though, so he could still work his way into some early playing time if he chooses the Orange and Blue.

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Florida football coaches drop in to check on blue-chip offensive lineman

Florida’s football staff is back on the road hitting the recruiting trail.

Florida football is back out on the road again this week as the coaching staff continues its tireless task on the recruiting trail ahead of the summer months. On Wednesday, Gators assistant and defensive line coach Sean Spencer is scheduled to visit Pike Road (Alabama) defensive lineman [autotag]Malik Blocton[/autotag], a four-star recruit in the 2024 cycle, at his high school during the spring evaluation period.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 255-pound lineman was offered last fall and has made numerous trips to campus since. Along with Spencer, defensive coordinator Austin Armstrong and assistant AD of recruiting strategy Katie Turner have spearheaded the efforts to get the Cotton State standout into an orange and blue uniform, according to On3.

The Gators are one of 10 programs pushing the hardest for the rising high school senior, joining the Auburn Tigers, Alabama Crimson Tide, Arkansas Razorbacks, Georgia Bulldogs, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Clemson Tigers, Oregon Ducks, South Carolina Gamecocks and Texas Longhorns.

Blocton is rated at four stars and ranked No. 413 overall and No. 40 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking has him rated at three stars and ranked at Nos. 440 and  39 respectively. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has Auburn with a solid lead for his commitment at 52.1% while Alabama (13.5%), Clemson (11.5%) and Florida (9.6%) follow behind, respectively.

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Florida coaches to meet with 4-star safety before his trip to LSU

Co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney and cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond visited Jacoby Mathews on Friday morning before his trip to Baton Rouge.

The Gators continue to make four-star Ponchatoula (Louisiana) safety Jacoby Mathews a top priority. He was on campus this past weekend for an official visit, his first trip to Florida, and the coaching staff wanted to get one more pitch in before he heads to Baton Rouge to take his final official visit before national signing day.

0According to 247Sports’ Blake Alderman, co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney and cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond went to visit Mathews on Friday morning before he leaves for LSU later in the day.

Mathews, the No. 38 player in the 2022 recruiting class and No. 2 safety per the 247Sports Composite, had positive things to say about his trip to UF this past weekend. He said that the coaches, many of whom previously coached in Louisiana, made a good impression on him and he could get behind the way the staff wants to use him.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 193-pound prospect is set to announce his decision on national signing day, when he will choose between Florida, LSU and Texas A&M. However, he took his official visit to College Station back in June, and the Gators and Tigers are widely considered to have the best shot at him.

UF will hope the impression made with the two visits will be enough to fend off a push from LSU to keep Mathews in-state.

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Gators coaches plan to visit with OL commit ahead of signing day

A pair of UF staff will visit Jalen Farmer, who has been committed since September but did not sign during the early signing period.

When early signing day wrapped up on Dec. 15, the Gators had a lot of work to do on their 2022 class. However, one upside was the fact that no players that entered the day committed flipped elsewhere, and only one of the committed players didn’t sign.

That player was three-star Covington (Georgia) Eastside offensive lineman Jalen Farmer. The interior lineman committed to Florida back in September, and UF’s new staff managed to maintain his commitment.

They are optimistic he will ultimately sign with the Gators, and to shore things up, assistant offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton (possibly joined by offensive line coach and offensive coordinator Rob Sale) will visit with Farmer on Thursday, according to 247Sports’ Blake Alderman. Farmer took an official visit to Gainesville the weekend of Jan. 14.

UF’s coaches will hope to get the benefit of the last in-person visit with Farmer, who visited Auburn last weekend and is set for a trip to Mississippi State this coming weekend. Both schools also dropped by to visit Farmer, the No. 672 prospect in the 2022 class, this week.

Though he’s far from the highest-rated prospect in Florida’s class, Napier and the staff have prioritized keeping him in the fold, and they will look to stave off late challenges from a pair of SEC schools and earn his signature on Wednesday.

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Gators coaches to visit this 2022 wide receiver target

Billy Napier and receivers coach Keary Colbert will visit three-star Texas receiver Caleb Douglas ahead of his visit to LSU.

Florida hasn’t added any receivers this offseason, either through the transfer portal or the 2022 recruiting class. That could be set to change, though, as the team is in a good position for Missouri City (Texas) Hightower prospect Caleb Douglas.

The three-star receiver has called Florida his leader in the past, and he has a good relationship with new receivers coach Keary Colbert, who originally recruited Douglas (a former Trojans commit) to USC. However, the Gators aren’t without competition.

Douglas is set to take his final visit this weekend to LSU, and Florida’s staff wanted to meet with him one more time before that trip. According to 247Sports’ Blake Alderman, Colbert and head coach Billy Napier will have an in-home visit with Douglas on Thursday.

The No. 462 overall prospect in the class per the 247Sports Composite, Douglas already took an official visit to Gainesville the weekend of Jan. 14, and it seems that the Tigers are the only real competition to land his services at this point.

While Florida offered the 6-foot-3-inch, 185-pound prospect back on Dec. 6, LSU got in considerably later, only offering him a week ago. However, it seems to have made up enough ground in that time to get him on campus. UF will hope to fend off the challenge and welcome Douglas into the class on national signing day on Wednesday.

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Gators coaches expected to visit this 4-star WR target

D.J. Allen will take his fifth and final official visit to Gainesville this weekend.

Florida continues to push hard for four-star Gladewater (Tex.) receiver D.J. Allen and several coaches will be making the trip to visit with him on Tuesday, according to 247Sports’ Blake Alderman. Both head coach Billy Napier and receivers coach Keary Colbert are expected to be in attendance.

Allen was once committed to TCU, but he backed off that early pledge in November. Florida offered Allen on Dec. 30, and since then, Napier and his staff have been aggressively targeting him. He had a prior relationship with Colbert, who recruited him when he held the same role at USC.

“He cares about what you do outside of football and he cares about who you are,” Allen said of Colbert. “He is going to push you to be the best you can be. It’s good to have him there since I know him. I don’t know how to really describe it, but I feel like we already know each other good, so that is good. We have a good bond. He’s been telling me much about Florida but we talk on an off. I talk with Coach Napier too and Coach Hamilton too. Coach Napier tells me how he plans on changing the program around and how much I can help. Coach Hamilton is from Texas, so it’s nice having someone from Texas at Florida. I’ve talked to him a little bit, but not a ton.”

The No. 209 prospect and No. 30 receiver in the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports Composite, Allen has taken previous visits to USC, Arkansas, Baylor and TCU, and he plans to take his fifth and final visit this weekend to Gainesville. He said he wants to see both the business program (as that’s his intended major) and the football facilities.

With his last visit going to UF, the team is currently in a good position to land him. As things currently stand, the Gators have not added any receivers this offseason either through the transfer portal or recruiting. Allen would be a big win for this staff if it can lock things up next weekend.

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