The Florida Gators are in desperate need of a tight end that can play next season and Tuesday the team visited one of its top targets at the position.
Coach Jim McElwain and cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson went on an in-home visit with tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe (6-4, 220, Suwanee, GA North Gwinnett) on Tuesday evening.
“It went good, Coach McElwain just talked to family and I about Florida,” Imatorbhebhe said. “My first impressions of him were that he was a super cool guy and a down to earth guy. He’s very relatable and honest. He was very a real dude and just upfront about everything.”
Heading into the visit Imatorbhebhe was wondering whether or not Florida still wanted him and his question was answered rather quickly on Tuesday evening.
“Coach McElwain was just telling me that there is an opportunity there for me to be a Gator,” Imatorbhebhe said. “He said that there was something special going on at Florida now and that he was going to be coming in with us and that his first class will always hold a special place in his heart. He said that we would be going through everything together.”
Imatorbhebhe has an official visit scheduled for Cal this weekend but McElwain made sure to tell him the Gainesville campus the recruit visited several times already wasn’t going to change— except for more wins.
“Coach McElwain said that I already know everything about Florida but that I just needed to get to know him,” Imatorbhebhe said. “He said that he isn’t going to change the Swamp but that he’s at Florida to fix the offense and keep the success going on defense.”
Imatorbhebhe who plays tight end in high school is hoping to become a playmaker in college and McElwain explained to him that Florida would put him in positions to make plays.
“He told me that I would play the h-back position in his offense,” Imatorbhebhe said. “He said that the h-back position has a lot of different formations and that it creates a lot of mismatches for that player. I liked the sound of it because I like mismatches but I’m going to go back and watch some Colorado State film soon.”
While most prospects that Florida is recruiting have another month of the process to go through, Imatorbhebhe only has a few weeks, so a decision is coming soon.
“I’m still planning on early enrolling in January at whichever school I choose,” Imatorbhebhe said. “I would like to decide on Monday of next week if I can.”
The Gators can rest assured that whenever Imatorbhebhe chooses his school Florida will be in position to land him as the dark cloud is gone from Gainesville.
“I’m very interested in Florida after I met with Coach McElwain,” Imatorbhebhe said. “It was hard to be interested during the season because of all of the uncertainty swirling around the coaching staff. It’s very humbling to have Coach McElwain come visit me so soon.”
INSIDERS TAKE: I believe heading into this weekend’s official visit to Cal that Florida leads and having McElwain visit him has put Florida over the top by a good margin. Imatorbhebhe has family in California so it will be interesting to see how this weekend goes for the recruit.
Any coach that is willing to kick in a couple large of his own $ to make this deal is all in. I can’t wait…this kids name is so complicated I can’t even copy it right, but I sure hope he becomes a Gator and then gets a nice short his nick-name :) Go Gators.
Mac is all in and he seems to truly love the job. Imatorbhebhe can just be called I’m a Gator. haha