Gators turn up the heat on Sterling-Cole

The most important position on the football field is the quarterback and the Florida Gators are hunting for one in the class of 2016.

One of the Gators top targets is quarterback Dillon Sterling-Cole (6-2, 185, Houston, TX Westfield) and last week he had offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier watching him in person in Texas.

“Coach Nussmeier and coach [Kerry] Dixon both came to my spring game last Wednesday,” Sterling-Cole said. “It went good but he wasn’t able to talk to me during the game. I called him the following day and we just talked about how I did in the spring game. Coach Nussmeier was giving me good feedback and he was telling me some things that I could work on.”

Last week the Florida Gators saw another one of their top targets in Dwayne Haskins commit elsewhere and now the Gators are turning up the heat on Sterling-Cole and he has noticed.

“Coach Nussmeier has been recruiting me hard since they offered me,” Sterling-Cole said. “He just tells me that he needs me and wants me there. He said that they want to build a team around me and that he loves my game. He said that I really fit what they’re doing there in Gainesville.”

Head coach Jim McElwain is starting to get involved in Sterling-Cole’s recruitment and he’s delivering a strong message to the quarterback recruit.

“Coach McElwain has spoken with me a few times,” Sterling-Cole said. “He says that he loves my film and that he would for me to visit them when I get a chance. He says that he really loves my play and what I can do with the ball.”

McElwain and Nussmeier didn’t get a quarterback commit in 2015 and they are telling Sterling-Cole how important he is to Florida’s recruiting efforts.

“Florida tells me that I’m a big priority to them,” he said. “Coach Nussmeier said that he wants me to be the first quarterback to commit to them and that it would be really big for them.”

The first step for Florida to being a serious contender in Sterling-Cole’s recruitment is to get a visit from him and that could happen soon.

“I haven’t set anything exactly but I do plan to come out to Florida this summer either in June or July but most likely June,” Sterling-Cole said. “I’m just trying to look at some schools and I’m trying to wait and see what happens with a couple of guys. I would say that Florida is really recruiting me the hardest right now.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Sterling-Cole says that Florida is recruiting him the hardest but I got the feeling that Houston is on his mind as well since one of his teammates just committed to them plus his former high school coach is a coach there now. Florida needs a visit soon in order to get squarely in the mix.

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.

9 COMMENTS

  1. Your ‘Insiders Takes’ although disheartening is probably correct. Recently I thought the Gators had a chance to pick-up a QB in Sterling-Cole. True, he is 3-Star project who has not received offers from the top Texas programs like Texas, Baylor, A&M, etc. but at least he appeared to be available as ‘panic time’ gets closer. If Sterling-Cole commits to Houston my guess is that UF will go down another peg and start to show more interest in the Culpepper kid. There is still time before signing day but ‘flipping commits’ is a two way street. I hope we do not lose those who have strong senior HS seasons. Clemson has ‘owned’ certain parts of Florida when it comes to recruiting 4-and 5-Star guys.

    • Andrew: That may be accurate but Clemson appears to OWN Tampa when it comes to signing top-tier recruits. In 2015 they signed 2 Five-Stars in ‘positions of need’ for the Gators. In 2016, so far, they have another Five-Star from Bradenton in Smith. Meanwhile the once might Gators have to settle for a transfer QB who was not good enough to play the position at Vanderbilt. To date, there is not much to get excited about when it comes to UF recruiting.

    • The five star at IMG is from South Carolina so not really considered a Florida prospect.

  2. I think his comment about waiting to see what others do is incisive. Quarterbacks, more than any other position, pay close attention to where other quarterbacks go, since only one quarterback usually plays. . Since UF doesn’t have a commitment, and are not high on anyone’s radar since Haskins chose elsewhere, i would interpret Sterling-Cole waiting to see what happens at other schools, most likely in Texas. I am surprised that he may delay his decision until June or July, I think most schools will want a decision now because the quarterbacks are coming off the board very fast.

  3. I think we should offer Jack Allison first. Miami’s class may crash and burn especially recruiting everyone during their sophmore year. As soon as Jack’s offered, we should go hard after Culpepper and Tyler Huntley. If you look at the top 100 commits from the state of Florida, it does not look pretty for us.

    • Florida is recruiting Allison but as long as James Coley is at Miami then the Canes will keep Allison.

    • Andrew: Do you have any recruiting information on Xavier Gaines as a Gator QB target? He looks like a big, strong kid and many top programs—-Ohio State, FSU, Clemson, Tennessee, and others—-have offered him. Does he have academic or behavior problems? On paper at least he looks like a viable possibility.