Florida Gators staff makes a good first impression on Battle

Several top instate prospects visited the Florida Gators on Saturday for the first Great Gator cookout as Dan Mullen and his staff look to lock down the state again.

Defensive back Jordan Battle (6-1, 187, Fort Lauderdale, FL. St. Thomas Aquinas) was one of those guys on campus with his teammates on Saturday.

“I loved it, it was nice out here,” Battle said of his visit to Florida on Saturday. “Great people around here, I love it. I was out here with my teammates and coach and we had a great time.”

Battle had the chance to visit with the coaching staff and he liked the way the coaches spoke with the recruits.

“Well that something that stood out was the coaches’ communication skills,” he said on what stood out to him on Saturday. “They were very well and they were speaking to me very well. The games were fun and brought all of us together and we had a good time together.”

Defensive backs coach Ron English spoke with Battle the most out of the coaches and had a simple message for the defensive back.

“The message was to keep on working and to keep grinding,” Battle said of the message from the coaching staff. “They’re going to keep watching me and Coach [Ron] English said that he’s going to come out and watch me and he wants me to come up here this summer.”

This was the first time for English and Battle to talk at length and it was a good first impression.

“Cool guy, he is funny,” he said of his impression of Ron English. “He reminds me of my coach that I have now so it’s a great connection.”

Battle went into the visit not having the Florida Gators as high on his list as others but that changed on Saturday.

“This was my first time meeting the new staff so it was a great feeling,” Battle said of how this visit impacted Florida. “Obviously they’re going to be back on my radar of course.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Battle says he won’t make a decision until at least the fall as he has several places he wants to visit this spring including Florida again.

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.