The Florida Gators football staff hosted well over 20 prospects on Saturday for the first game under Head Coach Jim McElwain and a few of those prospects were committed to other teams but were in Gainesville to see the Gators play.
One of those prospects was 2017 Ohio State Buckeyes athlete commit Bruce Judson (5-9, 184, Cocoa, FL High), who enjoyed the atmosphere in the Swamp for the Florida Gators football game.
“It went well,” Judson said of the visit. “The fans were the best part. It was like 90,000 fans that came out to see them play. I didn’t really expect that many people to be out there. The atmosphere was great and something that makes you want to play in front of. I could see myself playing in front of that atmosphere one day.”
Judson, who is being recruited on the offensive side of the ball, was very impressed by how well the Florida offense looked on Saturday night.
“The offense was on point a lot during the game,” he said of the Gators offense. “People say that they don’t really want to count that game because it was against New Mexico State, but you have to take every team serious. I think they did very well and they threw the ball around a lot.”
The Ohio State commit plays both sides of the ball in high school and he noticed that McElwain and company let one of the Florida Gators football players play both sides of the ball and that caught his attention.
“They had a lot of receivers in the game and Antonio Callaway got the ball a lot,” Judson said. “I see that Vernon Hargreaves got to play both sides of the ball and that’s something that I want to try and do is play both sides of the ball.”
Judson spent a lot of time watching slot receiver Brandon Powell because that’s what Florida is talking to him about playing and Judson likes that plan.
“I really liked what they did with the slot receiver in their offense,” he said. “They do end-arounds and stuff like that to get the ball in Brandon Powell’s hands. They said that they want me to do big things at Florida and they haven’t had that since Percy Harvin was back at Florida and they want me at kick-off return like Andre Debose did at Florida. I’m looking forward to that.”
The energy and atmosphere was something that caught Judson’s attention all night long and he believes that McElwain and his staff have created a new buzz in Gainesville.
“I felt the new era at Florida for sure and they are going to get some new commits,” Judson said. “They’re developing and you can see the turn around going up there. The energy and the young energy are there. You can see the energy from the coaches too.”
Despite the great visit to Florida, Judson remains committed to the Buckeyes, but plans to visit the Gators again with his teammate and Florida Gators football commit Chauncey Gardner.
“I’m solid to Ohio State,” he said. “I’m going back up next weekend with Chauncey to see Florida play.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Judson has heard from the Florida staff that they like him at slot and as a kick returner and that’s something that he likes to hear. Judson is a guy that you want to get the ball in his hands as much as possible and that sounds like the plan that McElwain is giving him