Friday was the last day of football camp for the Florida Gators coaching staff in the month of June and it was a big day on campus.
One of the standout prospects of the day was USC Trojans receiver commit Velus Jones (6-0, 180, Saraland, AL High) who had a good performance in front of the Gators coaching staff.
“The visit was great. I’ve always wanted to come check out Florida because I’ve been a Florida fan since I was little,” Jones said. “The camp was great and I did pretty good. I ran a 4.51 in the forty during the camp.”
Receivers coach Kerry Dixon has been recruiting Jones hard over the last few months and on Friday he got the chance to work with Jones during the camp.
“Coach Dixon taught me some stuff to take back with me to Mobile to help me get better at,” he said. “It was a great experience as well. He’s a great coach and he’s a cool guy. I can tell that he thinks highly of me.”
Dixon gave Jones his recruiting pitch, but it was head coach Jim McElwain that was recruiting Jones the hardest during his Florida visit.
“He was telling me that he knows that I’m committed to USC but that he has a feeling that at the end of my high school career that I’m going to be a Gator,” Jones said. “If I do decide to go to Florida, I don’t care if I play outside or inside as long as I get the ball coming to me.”
The USC Trojans receiver commit drove from Mobile, Alabama with fellow Florida Gator commit Lamical Perine and the two have been good friends since they were little. With that relationship already there, Perine is recruiting his buddy to join him in Gainesville.
“Lamical is recruiting me real hard,” he said. “He tells me that I might as well come to Florida because this has been our dream since we were little, so yeah he’s after me really hard.”
Despite a great visit to Florida and his friend being a Gators commit, Jones says he’s still solid to the Trojans.
“I’m really good with USC because I know they have a lot of quarterbacks and they are going to push the ball down the field,” Jones said. “I’m just going to watch the season and observe everything and see where everything is at.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Jones impressed a lot of people with his camp performance on Friday and he’s a prospect that has flown under the radar this year. Jones is a very good receiver that Florida is going to recruit hard these next few months.