One of the top Florida Gators recruiting commits of late is defensive end Antonneous Clayton (6-4, 230, Vienna, GA Dooly County) and on Saturday he received a visit from Geoff Collins and Chris Rumph at his home.
“It went real good, we just talked more about family and less about football,” Clayton said of the in-home visit. “We talked about how things were going to work out in the future and what things were going to be like for me.”
It’s unusual for coaches to visit a prospect on Saturday, due to official visitors being on campus, and Clayton realized how special it was for them to visit him.
“They had eight official visitors on campus but they took the time out of their day to come see me, it was special,” he said. “It really means a lot that they took their time to come see me.”
Rumph and Collins don’t have to sell Clayton on the Florida Gators recruiting pitch anymore, but they just told him what life as a Gator would be like.
“They said once I’m there that it’s going to be all about working hard,” Clayton said. “You’re going to go to class and play football and do what you’re supposed to do. Coach Mac came in and changed the program around and that’s how they expect things to go around there. Just do what you’re supposed to do.”
Over the last several months Collins has been telling Clayton about the Florida defense, and he talked to the defensive end about that some more on Saturday.
“Coach Collins is basically saying the same old stuff that he wants me and that he’s glad I’m a Gator,” he said. “He said that I’m going to do big things at Florida because once I get there and get on the meal plan I’m going to get better. He said he’s going to work with me on my technique too. They want me to replace Alex McCalister.”
Last week Clayton was in the news a lot because of Auburn visiting him. Clayton says he has an uneasy feeling about the meeting, but does know where he will be this weekend.
“Auburn is coming on Monday to see me,” Clayton said. “I’m still iffy on them coming because I don’t really like doing that, but I’ll just see what they have to say. I’ll be at Florida next weekend and Brett Heggie said he was going to be back down there too.”
Auburn is trying to get Clayton to visit the Plains on the 29th, but the Florida commit thinks he will only take one official visit.
“I’m not sure, probably not,” he said on whether he will visit Auburn or not. “Like I said I only wanted to take one official visit and that’s to Florida.”
INSIDERS TAKE: From speaking with Clayton a lot over the last month or so, I feel like it will take a total downfall for the Gators to lose him. Clayton really likes Florida and he’s big about sticking to his word.
He is a special player. I think he’s gonna be better then Fowler Jr. if he can put on the weight and keep his speed.