Blades has successful in-home visit with UF: Florida Gators recruiting

The regular season is over which means it’s time for the Florida Gators recruiting efforts to heat up as the coaching staff hit the road on Sunday.

One of the first stops for the Gators was for running backs coach Tim Skipper to visit cornerback commit Elijah Blades (6-2, 170, Pasadena, CA. Muir) at his home.

“It went good, he came and basically just talked to my parents about me coming to Florida,” Blades said of his in-home with Tim Skipper. “He explained that both the starting corners are going to be leaving for the draft and that I could possibly start as a freshman because of that. I have the chance to come in and play in the best conference.”

When Blades visited the Gators this past summer he came alone, so his parents haven’t been able to spend much time talking with Skipper until Sunday.

“That my mom’s first time to really talk to him,” he said. “My dad talks to him on a daily basis. My mom, she liked him and she thought a lot of him. She said if I go to Florida that I’ll be in good hands and that he just wants the best for me.”

Skipper also addressed the fact that the Gators didn’t finish the season the way they wanted to but Blades sees some positives for next season.

“He was basically just saying that hardly any of the starters played in the Alabama game so not to worry about that,” Blades said of Skipper’s message. “He said that I would come in with a defense that’s ready and it would be a good team. He said that it would be a good defense and everything would be different next year. He said that I would play as a freshman and possibly have a chance to enter the draft after my third year.”

After listening to Skipper’s message about the future of the Gators, Blades sees Florida a fit for himself.

“I think everything is perfect there,” he said. “Knowing that I could come in as a freshman and play is great because that’s one of my main goals. Entering the draft is what I want to do. I want to play in the NFL.”

Despite a good in-home visit Blades says he will still take all five of his official visits.

“I’m going to Washington State this weekend and then the rest will be in January,” Blades said. “I go to Florida on the 13th, USC on the 20th and Nebraska on the 27th.”

Blades did say that while he will take all of his visits that Sunday’s visit from Skipper made him more committed to the Gators.

“This visit really helped Florida because it showed a lot that they had just played in the SEC Championship on Saturday and then he came to see me,” he said. “It showed that they still want me at Florida. I would say it solidified my commitment even more because most schools don’t come see their commits so soon. Coach Mac [Jim McElwain] also told me he would be coming to see me soon.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Blades seems very solid to Florida but you worry about two other schools getting visits after the Gators do. Nebraska is the team to worry about the most but the one thing is that Blades has the best relationship with Skipper.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.