Florida Gators recruiting: Crowell impressed by the Gators

The Florida Gators recruiting visitors list for Saturday was impressive as Jim McElwain and his staff was able to get prospects from multiple states to visit Florida for a practice.

Defensive backs coach Torrian Gray and defensive coordinator Geoff Collins also put in a lot of work to get athlete Germane Crowell (6-3, 180, Winston Salem, NC Carver) to visit and it turned out to be a good visit.

“The visit was tremendous; tremendous visit and time there,” Crowell said. “I got down there by 9 or so in the morning, we went into some position meetings and team meetings. I went into the cornerback meeting and then talked to Coach Mac, Coach Gray and Coach Collins. Then we had some lunch, took a tour of the facilities and then went to talk to Coach Mac again. We watched practice after all that.”

Crowell wasn’t sure what to expect from the Florida Gators practice, but he was impressed by how the Gators got after it during Saturday’s scrimmage.

“I loved the practice,” he said. “High intensity, a lot of competition and guys were just pushing each other to get better. The coaching style is high energy and the players fed off the energy from the coaches. It was a lot of teaching going on and not just yelling at the players. Coach Gray is a very good teacher.”

Gray got to sit down and talk with Crowell for the first time on Saturday and he explained to the North Carolina athlete why the Gators like him.

“Coach Gray said that Florida is going to recruit me at cornerback,” Crowell said. “He was telling me that I was a high priority for them and that he wants get me to be a part of the Gator family. He likes my size, speed and the intangibles of how I play the game. He wants me pretty bad.”

McElwain also made a big impression on Crowell during the visit as the head coach explained how he ran the football program in Gainesville.

“When I spoke to Coach Mac he was telling me that I’m a priority for the staff this year,” he said. “He wants me to be a Gator and he was showing me his team accountability policies. He was telling me about his view of player development and development as a man. He was telling me about how he makes players from a long way away feel at home and feel comfortable.”

On Saturday a photo was released showing some new facility plans and Crowell was one of the first ones to see it and McElwain explained the plans to the athlete.

“He said that they are doing big things with the facilities and they’re doing it with a championship mindset,” Crowell said. “He said that they’re getting better at every single thing like facilities, football and everything. The plans looked real good to me.”

Crowell admits that the Gators helped their chances with the visit but he remains very open in his recruitment process.

“Right now I don’t really have any favorites, I’m just going through the process,” he said. “I’m taking some more visits and evaluating all of my visits. I plan to be back down there for another visit to Florida.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Crowell is another prospect that fits the mold for what Torrian Gray wants at defensive back. Crowell is a prospect that is long and rangy and can play anywhere in the defensive backfield.

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.