It’s now June which means that college campus are going to be full of prospects visiting campuses across the country for camps and unofficial visits. Will Muschamp and his coaching staff will not fall behind and will begin hosting camps, including 7-on-7 camps for the first time starting this Friday.
On Monday, the Gators played host to one of the top 2016 quarterbacks Brandon McIlwain (6-0, 205, Newtown, PA Council Rock North) and he had a full day on the Florida campus.
“It went amazing! I loved it,” McIlwain said. “At first I got to take a really nice tour and see all around campus and see the facilities. After that I got to talk to Coach [Kurt] Roper and to Coach Muschamp. Coach Muschamp was talking to me about football and just the school in general. I also got to talk to the academic advisor and I got to ask them about what I should be doing now to prepare myself for college.”
The sit-down meeting with offensive coordinator Kurt Roper was something that stood out to McIlwain because of the things that Roper taught him in the short meeting.
“When I was talking to Coach Roper, I got to sit down and talk a lot of football with him,” McIlwain said. “I learned a lot from him on Monday about quarterback play. He was talking to me about the Florida offense and the main things that they do with their offense at Florida. He was showing me why he has been successful with quarterback in the past and was really just the way that his offense prepares you for the next level.”
During the meeting Roper showed McIlwain some of his offense that he plans to run at Florida and the 2016 quarterback believes that the offense fits him like glove.
“I think I would fit in very well with Coach Roper’s offense at Florida,” McIlwain said. “It’s a great fit for me and it’s a lot out of shotgun with a lot of zone reads. The offense is a fast pace, passing offense with a lot of quick decisions. The quarterback has to run some but mainly it’s a passing style offense.”
Not only did Roper impress the quarterback but the message that Muschamp gave McIlwain was impressive and he took it to heart.
“Coach Muschamp and really all of the coaches have the same message and that is that at Florida you’re going to have to work hard both academically and athletically,” McIlwain said. “Coach Muschamp said that you have to want to be coached because Florida has a lot of great coaches. He ended the meeting by saying that if you want to be coached and to win then Florida is a great place for you.”
McIlwain was joined on Monday by his father and the elder McIlwain was also impressed by what he saw from Florida.
“I took the visit with my dad on Monday,” McIlwain said. “He loved it and he loved the mentality that they are going to coach you hard and make you work hard. He enjoyed talking to the coaches and he loved that the academic advisor laid everything out for us.”
Florida, however, isn’t the only campus that McIlwain will visit this summer, as he has a jammed packed schedule and a timeline for everything.
“This week I plan to visit Florida, Auburn and on Saturday I’m going to Duke,” McIlwain said. “After that I have like 10 or 11 more visits for this summer. At the end of the summer I’m going to narrow it down to somewhere between a top 5-7 and then I’m going to get to know those top schools even better. After my upcoming football season to late in the spring I plan to commit.”