A lot of prospects were in the state of Florida for the IMG 7-on-7 National Championship this past weekend and that meant they had to drive right past the Florida Gators campus.
The coaching staff tried to get as many prospects as possible to stop by Gainesville and they were successful in getting LSU Tigers tight end commit Jamal Pettigrew (6-5, 223, New Orleans, LA St. Augustine) to visit.
“I visited Florida with my parents on Friday,” Pettigrew said. “It went well, very good trip. I got to tour around the campus and I got to see how the facilities were coming along. I got to spend some time with Coach Skip [Tim Skipper] as well.”
Running backs coach Tim Skipper is a New Orleans native himself, and that has helped him build a solid relationship with Pettigrew.
“We have a good relationship and we talk almost every other day on Twitter or over the phone,” he said. “We have a great relationship that is getting better everyday and I think we are able to relate to each other well.”
Head coach Jim McElwain has had a lot of success with using the tight end position in his offense and that was a message that Skipper has been delivering to the LSU commit over the last few months.
“His message is that they use their tight ends the most in college football,” Pettigrew said. “He said that Coach McElwain is going to continue to get the ball to the tight ends and that he wants me to be a Gator one day. He just expressed how much they need me.”
One thing that Pettigrew didn’t get to do was to meet McElwain, but it was still a successful trip to Gainesville in his mind.
“I didn’t get a chance to meet Coach McElwain or Coach Nord because I didn’t arrive until late,” he said. “Coach Skipper stayed late in order to meet with me so I just spent all of my time with him on Friday.”
Despite a solid visit to Florida, the LSU commit says that he’s still a Tiger, but the Gators are a team he’s going to continue to monitor.
“I love the program at Florida and I think that Florida is a great college and a great school to play at,” Pettigrew said. “I’m still pretty solid to LSU but I love Florida so I’m going to continue to look at them and I plan to take an official to Florida this fall.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Pettigrew seems very interested in the Florida Gators but it will take a lot to get him away from LSU. The Gators will continue to recruit him hard but getting him back on campus for multiple visits is a must.