Saturday was the pool play round for the IMG Southeast 7 on 7 championship and there was plenty of action out there.
Included in the talent out at IMG Academy was several of Florida’s top targets and one of its commitments in Duke Dawson.
In this notebook GatorCountry.com’s Nick de la Torre and Andrew Spivey will break down some of the key things we noticed out on the fields.
- Even though he wasn’t participating in the tournament Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy offensive lineman Denzel Ward showed up on the field wearing a Gator beanie and still claims Florida as his leader.
- Immokalee (Fla.) High cornerback JC Jackson despite being committed to Florida State showed up today wearing Florida shorts and saying Florida was still his leader.
- 2015 Orlando (Fla.) Timber Creek running back Jacques Patrick showed up at IMG wearing a Florida State beanie. However, he now says the Gators and Florida State are tied at the top.
- 2015 Miramar (Fla.) High defensive back Tyrek Cole was participating at IMG on Saturday and was wearing Florida shorts. Cole says he grew up a Florida fan.
- Former Gator cornerback Keiwan Ratliff was coaching the Central Florida Top Recruits, the team that Duke Dawson plays for. Ratliff was decked out in Florida gear and was one of the most animated coaches out at IMG. Ratliff was Gator chomping,yelling and screaming and coaching up Dawson a lot.
- While watching the receivers Nick and Andrew both agree that West Palm Beach (Fla.) Cardinal Newman receiver Travis Rudolph is the most polished receiver at IMG this weekend but we both agree that Homestead (Fla.) High receiver Ermon Lane is the more explosive receiver and a difference maker.
- 2015 Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian linebacker Jeffrey Holland at 6-foot-2, 230-pounds is very athletic and played some tight end on Saturday and looked good for his size. Holland showed a nice leaping ability on a few goal line plays.
- 2015 Miami (Fla.) Central receiver Devonte Phillips looks to be the next star from the Miami area. The 6-foot-1, 189-pound Phillips is teammates with Dalvin Cook and has a nice size and explosiveness about him.
- Florida cornerback commitment Duke Dawson showed a nice physical side at corner today and has good hips.
- The play of the game has to go to Lake Minneola (Fla.) High receiver Terry Jernigan who made a catch and an ankle breaking move to score, giving the Top Recruits a win and keept their undefeated record alive for Saturday.
- At the end of Saturday Central Florida Top Recruits and Florida Fire are both undefeated at 4-0 heading into the double elimination tournament on Sunday.