Dillon still solid to the Florida Gators

Everyone wants to be the first prospect to receive a visit from a new head coach but only one prospect can get that visit.

Head coach Jim McElwain made Florida receiver commit Derrick Dillon (5-11, 175, Franklinton, LA Pine) that special prospect on Sunday evening when he visited Dillon in Louisiana.

“Coach McElwain and Coach Derek Lewis visited him on Sunday and he said it went real well,” Pine head coach Bradley Seal said. “He enjoyed meeting with coach and getting to meet him for the first time. I think they hit it off pretty well and had a good talk.”

McElwain knows that Dillon is a playmaker that he’s needed in Gainesville and that was the message to the talented receiver on Sunday.

“Coach McElwain’s was kind of talking to Derrick about some of his offensive plans at Florida,” Seal said. “He was just mostly talking about how he hoped to get Derrick on campus at Florida and to be able to coach him. It was really about developing a good relationship with each other.”

Dillon took his official visit to Florida for the LSU game in October so McElwain will not be able to bring Dillon in for an official and it doesn’t look like Dillon will visit Florida again.

“He hasn’t really talked about taking another visit to Florida or not so I’m not sure if that’s in the plans or not,” Seal said. “I’m not even sure if he has a date set up for his official to LSU or not yet.”

Despite the offer from LSU and the coaching change at Florida the talented receiver has remained committed to Florida and according to his head coach that’s still the same as of Tuesday.

“He’s committed to Florida but anytime the instate school starts calling you have to listen a little bit,” Seal said. “As of right he’s still Florida committed and he says that he’s solid to Florida and likes Florida.”

When Dillon committed to Florida he was expecting to play in the spread offense but McElwain’s offense is something that Dillon’s head coach believes Dillon could succeed in.

“Yeah he said he would feel comfortable in Coach McElwain’s offense,” Seal said. “Coach McElwain was talking to him about some of things they could do with him and I think he’s comfortable with what they were talking about.”

One thing to keep an eye on is whether or not LSU keeps pursuing Dillon on offense or not and according to Seal that’s very important to Dillon.

“Derrick is going to play offense so that’s why LSU changed its recruitment of him up,” Seal said. “Even though they now want him on offense that doesn’t mean he’s just going to commit to them. LSU is now in the discussion but Derrick says he’s solid to Florida.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: I think Dillon is still concerned that LSU might stick him on defense in the future and I think that’s one reason Dillon is hesitant of the Tigers. I also know that Dillon believes he can play from day one at Florida and that’s very important to him. McElwain definitely made a good impression on Dillon on Sunday night.

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.

2 COMMENTS

  1. A good sign is that he hasn’t bolted yet. That means something for an out of state guy with the recent defections of Brown and Jones. I also wonder how hard LSU is recruiting him since they offered very late and that tells me he’s not at the top of their board.