The Florida Gators have had great luck with flipping Miami Hurricanes commits the last few years and that has continued in the 2018 recruiting class.
Last Friday, the Gators hosted one of Miami’s top commits in defensive back Gilbert Frierson (6-1, 185, Miami, FL. Coral Gables Senior) who enjoyed his first Friday Night Lights.
“It was a great experience,” Frierson said. “Friday Night Lights, my first time out here. I heard a lot about it and I got to experience it.”
One of the things that stood out to Frierson was the Gators coaching staff and the way they treated him.
“The coaches, great coaches,” he said of Florida’s coaching staff. “The coaches are great; they always show positivity towards me, willing to do anything to get me to where I need to be.”
Despite Frierson being committed to Miami for sometime now, the Gators have had several coaches continue to talk to the Canes commit.
“Very often,” Frierson said on how often he talks to Florida. “I talk to Coach [Corey] Bell, Coach [Randy] Shannon, and Coach Hova a lot.
The message from Florida has continued to be the same since day one and it’s very simple message.
“We talk a lot that they want to see me here,” he said on the message from the coaches. “They want to see me play for the Gators and be apart of greatness.”
The Gators coaching staff also has a lot of helping hands as Frierson knows several of the Gators current players.
“Oh yeah, of course, I know Vosean Joseph, C.J. Henderson, Shawn Davis and I know a couple,” he said of the South Florida guys he knows. “Yeah, we talk a lot. I talk to C.J. and Shawn Davis.”
Frierson admits that Friday’s visit helped the Gators chances but he says every visit does that.
“I’ve been up here before. It’s not my first time,” Frierson said on if this visit helped Florida. “My third time up here. Every time I come up I just try to get more comfortable.”
The Miami defensive back doesn’t talk much about his status but did shed a little light on his status with Miami.
“Not too much in my recruitment, I don’t really know,” he said of how solid he is to Miami. “I’m just keeping quiet about my recruitment right now.”
Frierson did admit that he wants to give other schools a shot because of how early he committed to Miami.
“It’s tough because I committed very early in my recruiting process so I never gave schools a chance,” Frierson said of his recruitment. “I’m just opening it up a little bit.”
Over the next few months, Frierson plans to evaluate all of his options and see how this fall goes.
“I’m waiting on to see how the season goes,” he said on chances he flips from Miami. “I feel I can go anywhere. I can only pick one school.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Frierson is very open despite his commitment to Miami and Georgia is the team with the most momentum right now. The longer this goes on, the better chance Florida has to make up ground on the defensive back. Frierson does have a really good relationship with several of Florida’s coaches.