The Florida Gators led by Billy Napier and his new coaching staff have been hard at work since arriving in Gainesville and that involves handing out several new offers.
Athlete Arlis Boardingham (6-4, 220, Van Nuys, CA. Birmingham) picked up one of those offers after he talked to new receivers coach Keary Colbert.
“Coach [Keary] Colbert did,” Boardingham said on the coach from Florida who offered him. “He was just telling me that they love my versatility and that they love my athleticism as a player. They love what I can do with the ball in my hands and how I can go up and get the ball.”
Boardingham plays both sides of the ball in high school, but he says Florida and Colbert like him on the offensive side of the ball at the next level.
“I do believe it’s tight end,” he said on where Colbert wants him to play. “He said they do like how I play defense but they do like me at the tight end/H-back spot. That was the position that I wanted to play in college because I was a receiver but because my size and weight, I’m more fit for tight end.”
Colbert and Boardingham have a prior relationship that dates back to the coach’s time at USC last year.
“We had talked briefly, and he had introduced himself to me,” Boardingham said on his relationship with Colbert. “He told me when he was at USC that he was going to keep an eye on me but that was really it.”
Boardingham has never visited Gainesville before, but he knows a few things about the Gators’ program and history.
“I just know about the history, I know a little bit about the history because I watch a lot of football,” he said on what he knows about Florida. “Florida seems like a fun environment to be in and around. The community seems like it supports and is all about Florida football.”
The tight end has plans to be in Gainesville in two weeks as he takes the first official visit of the new year.
“January 14th-16th,” Boardingham said on his official visit to Florida. “I haven’t set any other ones up yet but I’m in the process of setting them up. Probably USC, maybe UCLA, maybe Washington. I have three left.”
When Boardingham does visit Gainesville, the tight end knows what he wants to see and what he’s looking forward to while at Florida.
“With all of the new coaches coming in, it seems like a new era is coming,” he said on why he decided to visit Florida. “I just wanted to get a first-hand experience of what they may look like and be about.”
The question of distance is always something that comes up when recruiting a west coast prospect to Gainesville but Boardingham says that won’t play a factor into his decision.
“Not really, I never really thought about distance being a factor,” Boardingham said on if distance will play a part in his decision. “I’ve always thought about it as when I go to the NFL, I’m not going to have the opportunity to choose which state or location that I’m going to play in so I should probably get used to playing far away.”