The first weekend of official visits for January are upon us as the Florida Gators recruiting visitors list for this weekend shows eight prospects visiting Gainesville.
Three of those eight prospects are already Gators commits and they will be on hand to help Florida with the other five prospects as the coaching staff looks to finish strong in 2016.
These official visits are very important to prospects. This weekend is the last chance for these prospects to see the campus in-person but the Gators coaching staff will still have plenty of opportunities to see them in person during in-home visits.
Here’s who’s expected to be on the Florida Gators recruiting visitors list this weekend.
Gators commits coming to town
Florida will welcome in offensive linemen Jawaan Taylor and Brett Heggie and they will be joined by defensive end commit Jachai Polite this weekend.
Heggie and Taylor are both solid commits to the Florida Gators and both figure to be key pieces on the offensive line in the years to come in Gainesville.
Polite, who committed to Florida this fall, has an upcoming visit scheduled for USC and seems a little shaky on his commitment to Florida. The Gators hope to reel him back in this weekend and get Polite to cancel his USC trip next weekend.
Offensive linemen visiting
This weekend has a theme to it and that’s offensive linemen are invading town headlined by Landon Dickerson (6-5, 297, Hudson, NC South Caldwell) and John Simpson (6-4, 288, North Charleston, SC, Fort Dorchester), who are both top priorities for the staff.
Florida just started recruiting Dickerson last moth and he will take his first ever visit to Gainesville with his parents in tow. Dickerson has Florida State and Auburn ahead right now, but the Gators could get in the mix after this weekend.
Simpson last visited the Gators for the spring game last spring and while many thought he was a lock to Clemson, Florida has continued to recruit him hard.
Texas duo visiting Florida
Linebacker Dontavious Jackson (6-2, 238, Houston, TX Elsik) and his best friend, cornerback Chris Brown (5-11, 190, Houston, TX Elsik), will both be making their first trip to Gainesville this weekend.
Jackson has been a top target of Florida Gators linebacker coach Randy Shannon for the last month and is open to a lot of schools right now. The Gators are trying to get in the thick of things with a good visit.
Brown is new on the scene for the Gators and will be looking to meet all of the Gators coaches, as he has not met any of the coaches yet. Brown is a player that can play multiple positions in the defensive backfield and is a long athletic player.
Georgia commit visiting
Georgia Bulldogs linebacker commit Jaleel Laguins (6-1, 210, Watkinsville, GA Oconee County) has been committed to Georgia since last August, but is looking around under new head coach Kirby Smart. Laguins, who has long mentioned visiting the Gators, will be in town for the first time this weekend. The Gators are looking for Laguins to help with linebacker depth.
Possible visitor
Tennessee offensive line commit Marcus Tatum was scheduled to visit the Gators this weekend but after committing to Tennessee he backed off of that. Tatum now says he may or may not visit Gainesville this weekend so it will be something we have to watch this weekend.