Over the spring, the Florida Gators and head coach Dan Mullen have hosted top prospect after top prospect and that continued on Saturday when the Gators hosted a lot of guys on campus for the Orange and Blue game.
Defensive back Derek Stingley (6-0, 170, Baton Rouge, LA. Dunham) was one of those guys on campus and he got the full red carpet treatment on Saturday.
“I really liked the visit,” Stingley said of his visit to Florida. “I got exactly what I was expecting to see, like everything I wanted to see. I got to put the uniforms on and that was nice, that was only the second time I got to do that. It was a nice spring game and there was no point in the day that I was bored.”
This was Stingley’s first time on campus and he got to talk to several of the new coaching staff on Saturday.
“I got to talk to pretty much all of them,” he said of the coaches he spoke to. “Pretty much all of the ones that I’ve been in contact with. Coach Otis, Coach [Charlton] Warren and Coach [Dan] Mullen so pretty much everyone.”
Defensive backs coach Charlton Warren spoke at length with Stingley about the need for the cornerback in the 2019 class.
“He was saying how they have two really good corners that are probably going to go my freshman year,” Stingley said of the message from Warren. “He was talking about me and Chester Kimbrough who’s also from the same area that I’m from that we can both come in and be the corners to play for them.”
Head coach Dan Mullen also made sure to speak with Stingley and they also got the corner’s father on the phone on Saturday.
“So my dad was on facetime with him because he couldn’t come,” he said of his talks with Mullen. “He was just talking about how I would fit in, he said I’m a big corner so they could use me like a press guy, a guy that can eliminate somebody but also someone that can be in zone coverage. He said I would be perfect for that.”
Mullen made a pitch to fill up the Swamp on Saturday and the crowd in the Swamp impressed Stingley.
“It helps out their case really good,” Stingley said of the atmosphere at the spring game helping Florida. “Because this was like my first game so getting to see all of that bumped them up higher. I like the environment, that was a spring game and it was still loud and rocking so I was just trying to imaging what it would be like for a full game with over 90,000 people here.”
A few weeks ago Stingley released a top six and he says those six schools are still in the mix but he does have a leader right now.
“That’s still my top six, LSU is my leader” he said on the schools he’s focusing on. “I’m going to put out a top three probably around the end of July and than I don’t know after that.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Stingley said he has an official visit planned to Texas for May and he wants to take an official to Florida either in the summer or fall. Stingley is graduating in December so he wants to have a decision before then.