Wednesday marked the first day that the Florida Gators basketball staff could hit the road recruiting per NCAA rules and the staff made quick work by getting out to see some of their top targets.
One of the Florida Gators basketball team’s biggest targets for 2017 is center Ikey Obiagu (6-11, 220, Decatur, GA Greenforest Christian Academy) and he had head coach Mike White visit him first thing on Wednesday morning, which showed Obiagu how big of a target he was to Florida.
“Coach White and Coach [Jordan] Mincy visited me first thing on Wednesday morning,” Obiagu said. “They were here about 7:30 in the morning so they were the first school to see me. That showed me that they were really serious about recruiting me and that they truly like me.
When White visited Obiagu he made sure to let the 2017 center know that the Florida Gators were going to be after him hard in the coming months.
“They just wanted me to know that they are going to really recruit me hard,” he said on the coaches’ message. “They said that I’m really a priority for them and that was why I was the first person they visited on Wednesday morning.”
Wednesday was the first time for Obiagu to meet the new Florida Gators basketball coaches, but he has been talking to them over the phone and the Gators have been giving him plenty to think about.
“I’ve been talking to Florida a lot lately,” he said. “I usually talk to Coach White and Coach Mincy over the phone. Most of the time we are talking about setting up a visit but other times they are telling me about the players that have went on to play in the NBA from Florida and how much they have improved from being at Florida.”
White and the Florida Gators basketball team are in desperate need of big men in the upcoming classes and Obiagu is well aware of that.
“They are telling me that they are in need of bigs in my class and that they need me,” Obiagu said. “They are telling me that I can be a big player in their style of play and that I will enjoy my time at Florida if I choose there. Coach White said that they are lacking big guys like me down there.”
Over the last few weeks Obiagu has been trying to set up visits to colleges and the Florida Gators are one of the schools that has caught his attention.
“I really don’t know much about the University of Florida but I like the coaches because they seem like good people,” he said. “I’m going to try to watch their games this season and I’m also going to try and get down there on a visit. We are in the process of narrowing down a visit date.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Obiagu said he doesn’t have any leaders at this point but that Florida was a school he had high interest in. Obiagu went on and on about how much he likes Florida Gators basketball head coach Mike White and assistant Jordan Mincy.