Florida Gators are “up there” for tight end Rae

Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators coaching staff has made the state of California a priority for recruiting early on in their tenure at Florida.

A few weeks ago receivers coach Billy Gonzales was out in the state recruiting and stopped by to visit tight end target Ethan Rae (6-5, 240, Orange, CA. Lutheran) at his school.

“Coach Gonzalez stopped by earlier this spring,” Rae said. “He came by the weight room but he couldn’t really talk to me because of the NCAA rules. He really talked to my coaches.”

Rae visited Florida this spring and since that visit he has really started talking to Florida a lot over the phone.

“I talk to them a good amount,” he said of his talks with Florida. “Coach Mullen texts me and I talk to Coach [Cordell] Landers the head of recruiting the most. It’s one of them talking to me all the time.”

Mullen and Landers have been keeping in contact with Rae and just trying to build a relationship with the tight end.

“They’re just checking on how I’m doing,” Rae said of his talks with the coaches. “They talk to me about what I’m doing and what I did over the weekend. Just that type of stuff.”

One message that Rae is receiving from the Gators coaching staff is how they use the tight end position in Mullen’s offense.

“Coach Mullen loves to utilize tight ends in his offense,” he said of what Florida has told about how they would use him. “They like to move us around into the slot, into the backfield and in a 3-point stance. Basically everywhere.”

After the visit to Florida and the talks with the staff, the Gators have really risen up Rae’s leaderboard in his recruitment.

“They’re way up there for me,” Rae said on his interest in Florida. “I just got a good feeling there when I visited and I like the coaches.”

The Gators have impressed Rae early on but the tight end believes his recruitment will go on longer as right now he doesn’t have a set date for a decision.

“The earliest I’d go is mid season,” he said on when he would commit.

INSIDERS TAKE: Rae says he will visit Florida again either in the summer or during the season as he wants to visit the Gators again to meet with the coaches more.

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.