Last Saturday, the Florida Gators had one of their commits on campus for spring practice as they hosted several other key targets on campus.
Florida Gators receiver commit Dionte Marks (5-11, 178, Deland, FL. High) was on campus for the first time since he committed and felt the energy and support of being a commit.
“Everything was great, I loved the energy,” Marks said of his visit to Florida over the weekend. All of the players were giving energy at practice and the coaches were too. I had all of the fans appreciating me and took a couple of pictures with some kids and grown ups and stuff.”
Marks got to see his first spring practice and he liked what the future has in store for him on the practice fields in Gainesville.
“I loved it,” he said of Florida’s practice. “I just don’t like standing there watching other people practice so I wanted to go put on pads and practice with them. I loved it, I liked the energy and all of the hype they build.”
The receiver spent most of practice watching receivers coach Billy Gonzales and the receivers go through practice.
“It was crazy, I was by the receivers the whole day,” Marks said of watching the receivers during practice. “I was really watching them and watching how the footwork was and experiencing that. I was learning off of them and Coach Gonzales he’s a pretty cool coach and I like him. He has a lot energy, that’s the kind of coach you want for a receivers’ coach. He’s a hyped up coach.
Gonzales spent some time with Marks going over film and also made sure to let the commit know that he’s waiting for him to join the team in 2019.
“When I got there we went inside the film room and he was going over the plays they had ran in the past,” he said of his time with Gonzales. “After that when we were about to leave the film room he came up to me and said ‘we’ve got some pads for you’ and I asked where they were at and he said ‘I’m just playing but I can’t wait till you get here because you’re one of the future Gators that we need’.”
Head coach Dan Mullen has made a big impression on Marks early on and that relationship continued on Saturday.
“I love Coach Mullen and he came up to me and asked me if I’ve gotten faster yet,” Marks said of his conversation with Dan Mullen. “He’s always playing around but I love Coach Mullen.”
While on campus, Marks spent some time recruiting other guys to join him including a running back target out of Louisiana.
“Man, John Emery, I told him he might as well commit,” he said of his conversation with other recruits on campus. “I can really see myself playing with him, he became like a brother to me and I can see John Emery in the Swamp. I really see him fitting in with us.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Marks is very solid to Florida and he says this visit made him feel even more comfortable with Florida now. Marks is recruiting others to join him in Gainesville now. Marks plans to return for the spring game.