It was a small official visit weekend for the Florida Gators recruiting department but one that was filled with some big name players at positions of need.
One of the visitors was Florida offensive line commit Kadeem Telfort (6-6, 310, Miami, FL. Booker T. Washington) who was joined by his mom. This was a visit of just sewing up all of the loose ends to make sure mom was comfortable with the Gators.
The Gators coaching staff did just that and Mrs. Telfort spoke to Gator Country about the visit.
“The visit was awesome, you can say,” Gerta Telfort said. “We learned a lot and I got all my concerns and questions answered. We got to see the Swamp, we got to see the indoor facility and the new academic building. And I was able to see where he would be staying at and eating at. I was able to see a lot of places this weekend.”
During the visit, Florida Gators coach Jim McElwain laid out the new facility plans for Telfort and his mom.
“Coach McElwain explained that they’re building a new facility for the football team,” she said. “He said that it would be right by the football fields and would join everything together for the players.”
This was the first time up to Florida for Mrs. Telfort so she was able to meet all of the coaches and the number of coaches it took to run a football program surprised her.
“I got to have a 1-on-1 meeting with Coach McElwain at his house,” Mrs. Telfort said. “I got to meet the offensive line coach and talk with him and I got to meet a lot of different coaches. I didn’t know there were so many coaches but like I told Coach McElwain it takes a village of guys to run everything. I met George Wynn the football operations guy too.”
Mrs. Telfort had a lot of questions for McElwain and she left the meeting feeling like she had them all answered.
“Coach McElwain was telling us that they were going to take care of him on and off the field and make sure he’s doing what he’s supposed to do,” she said. “I don’t have to worry about his academics or anything like that because Coach McElwain said he’s a part of the family when he gets there.”
Offensive line coach Mike Summers hasn’t been a big part of Telfort’s recruitment so this weekend was a good opportunity for both sides to learn more about each other.
“Coach Summers and his wife are very nice people,” Mrs. Telfort said. “He laid down everything for Kadeem about him coming in and working hard so he can get on the field. He broke down what he has to do in order to get on the field and where he would play.”
Now that the official visit weekend is over Telfort and his mother left Gainesville knowing that Florida was the right fit for them.
“We’re comfortable with everything and he’s ready to enroll at Florida,” she said. “Basically I just needed to make sure my worries were going to be ok. His academics and safety are going to be good at Florida.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Florida really had to battle to keep Telfort in the class for a few months as Miami was really coming after him. Props have to go out to Randy Shannon for keeping Telfort in the class. And as one person said to me this weekend “Telfort looks the part” so this is a big win for Florida.