Burney excited about the future for the Florida Gators under Mullen

Dan Mullen hosted his first official visit weekend as head coach of the Florida Gators this weekend and that included five commits on campus.

One of those commits on campus was athlete Amari Burney (6-1, 215, Clearwater, FL. Calvary Christian) who enjoyed getting to meet the new Gators coaching staff this weekend.

“Everything went good this weekend, I got to meet everyone and talk with them,” Burney said on his official visit. “I got to hang out with Chauncey [Gardner] and meet all of the new coaches that are there already.”

Burney who has been on campus a lot the last two years didn’t see anything new but did get the feeling that he made the right choice with Florida.

“Nothing different this just reassured me that Florida is the place I want to be,” he said on this weekend. “It was just different faces and different people but high energy people. Everyone is just ready.”

This was the first time for Burney and the rest of the visitors to be around the new staff for a long period of time and the impressions they gave off was a good one.

“The feeling was great, a lot of high energy with those guys,” Burney said of the feeling around campus. “Just seeing them every day they always have a smile on their face. I think they are just ready to start football training again.”

Mullen and Burney had a chance to sit down and talk for a long period of time on Saturday and the Gators head coach explained the opportunity for Burney in January.

“He was just talking about it was good for me to come in the spring because when we start meetings it’s going their first time with him just like me,” he said on Mullen’s message to him. “He said it’s going to give me a chance to earn a starting position.”

Burney also had the chance to learn about where Mullen and new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham want him to play at in the Gators defense.

“He said they’re going to move me around a lot,” Burney said on where Mullen intends for him to play. “He said like safety, nickel and outside linebacker are all places I’ll move to.”

Grantham hasn’t had the chance to talk with Burney much but the defensive coordinator impressed the Gators commit this weekend.

“It was great, he knows what he’s doing,” he said on Grantham. “He’s a great coach and a great guy. Just sitting down with him, things with great.”

Burney also learned a little more about Grantham’s defense this weekend and he likes what he knows so far.

“He said the same thing that Coach Mullen said,” Burney said. “I like the 3-4 defense but it doesn’t matter to me what we run. We just have to go out there and compete every weekend.”

During the weekend Burney had the chance to talk with the other visitors and commits and he believes things are headed in the right direction.

“Everything went great, everyone was talking and hanging out,” he said on the recruits on campus. “I think everybody is ready and the weekend went great. The future is going to be great. Coach Mullen coming in and wants to win and he’s going to put us in position to actually win.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Burney says he will sign with the Gators on December 20th and that’s he’s solid to Florida. Burney also says that Mullen didn’t talk about a potential defensive backs coach on the visit.

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.