Calvary Christian (Clearwater, Florida) interior offensive lineman [autotag]Joseph Ionata[/autotag] returned to the Swamp over the weekend.
On his first trip to UF since January, Ionata spent less time touring facilities and more time observing what coaches and players do in Gainesville daily, according to 247Sports. He spent time looking in on meetings and observing practice.
Florida has two offensive line coaches, Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton. The latter was Ioanata’s first contact at Florida, but this trip allowed him to connect with Sale a bit more. Playing under two position coaches is something unique to Florida and it seems to impress plenty of the recruits that come by.
“Definitely still towards the top of my recruiting,” Ionata said. “They have development, college town feel, academic support, and the chance to win big-time ball games.”
Alabama, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Ole Miss and UCF are the other major players in his recruitment, with the SEC schools standing out from the rest. He’ll be visiting UCF and Ole Miss for unofficial visits soon and is setting up official visits.
Florida is likely to get one of his five official visits, but he might wait until September to see a game. Sale recommended the idea over a summer visit, which is what Ionata had in mind.
“I was thinking in the summer, but coach Sale was encouraging me to do a September date for a better experience so we will see,” he said. “We are going back and forth on it. It really depends on when I want to commit.”
Ionata is a consensus three-star recruit, sitting at No. 820 overall in the class of 2024 by the On3 industry ranking. He comes in at No. 56 among interior offensive linemen in the class. The 247Sports composite is slightly less bullish on him at No. 842 nationally and No. 58 at his position.
The University of Miami holds the best odds (91.9%) to land him. Florida is in second place with 5.8% odds on the On3 recruiting prediction machine.
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