A house divided for Norton

Will Muschamp’s football camps are great ways for the Florida Gators coaching staff to evaluate prospects while working with them.

After Saturday’s camp Florida offered 2015 Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian defensive tackle Kendrick Norton.

“Coach (Will) Muschamp offered me in his office on Saturday after we left the camp,” Norton said. “He told me that he wanted to offer me a scholarship and that he hopes I will come back for some more visits to Florida. He also told me that he wanted me to take visits to other schools but to come back and be a Gator next year. Coach wanted to make sure that I kept my grades up in the classroom too.”

During Saturday’s camp the 6-foot-3, 283-pound Norton had the opportunity to work with his potential future position coach.

“I had the chance to work with the defensive line coach Brad Lawing,” Norton said. “I really enjoyed working with him and I liked his coaching style. I learned a lot from him about techniques and ways to line up and stuff. He also taught me some things that I can work on by myself at home and some drills to do.”

Norton plays both ways at Trinity Christian but he plans to just focus on defense when he moves on to college.

With that being said, Norton has taken a close watch of Florida’s defense in the past few years and he has been impressed.

“I really like Florida’s defensive style of play,” Norton said. “They play real aggressive and are always getting to the ball. I like how the defensive line plays and how the defensive tackles shoot the B gaps well. I like to line up head up to the center and get after it.”

Norton grew up in Tallahassee but says his family is split between the Gators and Seminoles. The Gators certainly have someone in their corner pushing Norton to Florida.

“Nick Washington is in my ear everyday about Florida,” Norton said. “He was happy I got the offer and was telling me how I should be a Gator. Nick never stops recruiting people to Florida.”

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.