Gator Country

Orlando (Fla.) Christian Adonys Henriquez was among several Gators basketball recruits that attended Florida's game against Kentucky on March 4 at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.

Gator Country's Drew Laing and Andrew Spivey recently visited with Adonys Henriquez, a 6-foot-4, 180-pound shooting guard from Orlando (Fla.) Christian High.

In this GatorCountry.com exclusive interview, Henriquez talks about his recent scholarship offer from the Florida Gators, how playing AAU basketball has helped his recruiting, what other schools are recruiting him, how former UF player Bradley Beal is one of the players he models his game after and much, much more!

Andrew Spivey: Welcome in to this edition of the Gator Country Recruiting Podcast. In this edition, we’ll have 2014 basketball recruit Adonys Henriquez. Drew, before we welcome him in, give us a little introduction to what he’ll bring to the table.

Drew Laing: Adonys is a 6-foot-4 shooting guard. He’s a scorer. Last week at the Bob Gibbons Tournament in Atlanta he put up a tournament high of 25 points and also averaged 18 points a game. So he’s a scoring guard and he definitely brings a lot to the basketball court and I’m excited to see what he does over the next couple years in high school.

Andrew Spivey: Adonys, now recruiting is kind of turning up for you at an early time and you still have two more years of high school basketball. Describe the pressure. Is it pressure or is it excitement? What is it right now?

Adonys Henriquez: Right now it’s excitement. You know, I’m just trying to play my best and trying to do my best at all times right now, that’s about it. I’m trying to play well in front of coaches and impress coaches.

Drew Laing: Adonys, you were offered by Florida last week. What was that like? Maybe talk about what that meant to you. What was the process? How did you find out and whom did you talk to?

Adonys Henriquez: My offer by Florida, that was pretty good. I was playing well and I like the school and stuff. So, I was kind of excited. I found out through my high school coach and he told me to call coach [Matt] McCall, the assistant coach at Florida. He told me and then I spoke with the head coach [Billy] Donovan and he was telling me that I had a scholarship to Florida. He was telling me about the school and stuff like that.

Andrew Spivey: Now Adonys, how do you think the AAU program and traveling to all these different cities and playing in front of these coaches, how do you think that has helped you with your recruitment? Do you look at it as a positive or a negative?

Adonys Henriquez: Well, I feel like it helps us because it’s like another tool. It’s like another chance for us to do well and to get into college, and us meaning as a team and players and stuff. I think I like it and I think its positive because kids are just playing basketball and doing what they have to do to reach another level.

Drew Laing: Adonys, you are picking up some early offers as a sophomore, going into your junior season next year and playing in the AAU circuit. What are some things you feel like you’re going to have to work on this year and improve on before your next season.

Adonys Henriquez: Well, just trying to get faster and work on my first step and just explosion to the rim.

Andrew Spivey: Besides Florida, who all else has offered so far?

Adonys Henriquez: I have offers from Florida State, USF, UCF, Murray State, FIU and Georgia Southern.

Andrew Spivey: Have other schools been calling and talking about a possible offer?

Adonys Henriquez: You know like Kansas, Syracuse, and UConn. I have talked to Georgia, Georgetown. Of course there’s more, but those are just some the ones that I like.

Drew Laing: Which ones are sticking out to you the most? Do you have a top five at this point in your recruitment?

Adonys Henriquez: I like Florida State, Florida, Georgetown, Kansas and Syracuse.

Andrew Spivey: Who did you grow up a fan of?

Adonys Henriquez: I’ve always been a fan of the Gators and I’ve always been a fan of FSU. But I’ve always liked Florida’s basketball team and all their teams. They always have good teams.

Andrew Spivey: Is there a player you kind of model your game after?

Adonys Henriquez: Bradley Beal and Darius Miller, from Kentucky and Beal from Florida. Yeah, those two players.

Drew Laing: Do you have any relationships with players who are at Florida now or who are also being recruited by Florida?

Adonys Henriquez: Yes, I talked to Kasey [Hill]. He’s committed to Florida.

Drew Laing: What’s he been telling you? Has he been talking to you much about going to Florida or what the school is like? Has he been recruiting you as well?

Adonys Henriquez: We talk about basketball stuff because I workout with him everyday. So we talk about schools and about what schools best fit me. He says Florida is a good school and a good school to be at.

Andrew Spivey: Thank you for joining us on this edition of the recruiting podcast Adonys. For Drew Laing, this is Andrew Spivey, join us next time for the next recruiting podcast with the next basketball star.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This was planned to be another edition of the GatorCountry.com Recruiting Podcast, but something went wrong with the audio file. Strangely enough, the corrupt file even ended up frying one of Andrew Spivey’s computers. So, instead of sitting on the interview any longer, we’ve decided to post the transcript by itself before it became old news. We apologize for any inconvenience and plan to have more recruiting podcasts — with the transcript AND the audio — in the near future.

About the author

DrewLaing

Drew Laing is a junior at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala. Before college, Drew lived in Lakeland, Fla., his entire life. He began in journalism during his senior year of high school and has continued studying it throughout college. In addition to his internship at Gator Country, he is the Editor-In-Chief of The Samford Crimson and a collegiate correspondent for USA Today. Drew enjoys the finer things in life like Tampa Bay Rays baseball and PB&J sandwiches.

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