On Friday Vernon Hargreaves will play his final game for the Florida Gators and Florida truly only returns three cornerbacks to the team next season. That means Jim McElwain and Geoff Collins have been out on the defensive back recruiting trail hard, trying to bring five or six freshmen into the fold this offseason.
Florida already has five defensive backs committed to this recruiting class but that isn’t stopping them from recruiting Kristian Fulton (6-0, 177, Metairie, LA, Archbishop Rummel). Fulton is listening to what Florida has to say to him and he’s not worried about how many defensive backs Florida is offering.
“I see they have like four or five commits at that position. That doesn’t really bother me,” he said. “Best man gotta go out and compete.”
The Louisiana native is one of the top cornerbacks in the country and being recruited by just about every school in the SEC. His home state team, LSU, has traditionally cleaned up when it comes to signing prospects from Louisiana but an unofficial visit to Florida left a big impression on Fulton.
“The defense played great. The offense couldn’t really get going and they scored points at the end of the game,” Fulton said of the Florida-Florida State game he attended in November. “The defense really played great in my eyes. The atmosphere was crazy. I would compare it to LSU-Bama.”
Fulton feels pressure from friends and some of his family to stay instate, most Louisiana kids feel pressure to stay close to home, but he says he has to make the best decision for him, even if that means going against the wishes of some people close to him.
Defensive backs coach Kirk Callahan is leading the charge for the Gators when it comes to Fulton’s recruitment but running backs coach Tim Skipper (a native of New Orleans) may be Florida’s wild card and someone who could have a major impact on Fulton’s recruitment.
“He relates to me, he knows coming from the city, how he grew up,” Fulton said of Skipper. “He knows that Louisiana has the ballers and that’s why he’s on me real hard.”
Fulton plans on making his final decision after taking five official visits and announcing that decision on National Signing Day. A trip to Arkansas is planned for January 22 and he’ll go to Miami or LSU the week before. Fulton also scheduled his last official visit to Florida for January 29, the last weekend before signing day. Whether getting the last official will be beneficial for Florida remains to be seen, but Fulton has seen enough from the Gators and McElwain on the field to trust the in where the direction of the program is going.
“I see that Florida had great progress, they surpassed everybody’s expectations for this year. That shows what this coaching staff could do and they didn’t even have a full recruiting class. They have a pretty good class right now.”
One of the Gators biggest recruits left on the board, I really hope he chooses Florida. Chauncey Gardner and him would make a great combo in Florida’s great secondary.