Harkless excited about the switch to Florida

News broke on Saturday that Charlie Strong was leaving Louisville to head to Texas to become their new head coach and the Gators benefited from their former defensive coordinator’s promotion.

Offensive lineman Karvaris Harkless (6-5, 269, Jacksonville, FL Trinity Christian) was all set to enroll in school at Louisville until he received the news that Strong was leaving and once that happened he made the switch to Florida.

“It’s been a wild couple of days,” Harkless said. “I drove to Louisville on Friday and drove back to Florida on Monday. I was all set to enroll at Louisville until coach (Charlie) Strong left. I was very shocked that he left to go to Texas. I will now enroll at Florida on Wednesday.”

While Louisville was upset about Harkless decision to leave the program the Gators head coach Will Muschamp was excited to hear the news.

“Coach Muschamp was really happy when I called him and told him that I was going to Florida,” Harkless said. “He was excited to get the call because he had been recruiting me really hard the last couple of weeks. He said that Florida got better because of me.”

Harkless is an athletic offensive lineman who has played multiple positions but Will Muschamp sees him sticking at one position and he also had a message for Harkless about the offense.

“Coach Muschamp said he wants me at offensive tackle,” Harkless said. “He was telling me about the offensive line coach that he hired and he was telling me about the new offensive coordinator Kurt Roper. He seemed excited about the offense and where everything was headed.”

While Harkless had made up his mind he wanted to be a Louisville Cardinal he said the turn of events is actually a positive for him and his family.

“This is a plus for me that this happened,” Harkless said. “It’s closer to home and it’s less stress on my mom and plus Florida has a better medical program so all in all it’s a plus for everyone.”