The Florida Gators received some early morning good news on Wednesday when defensive end Antonneous Clayton (6-4, 218, Vienna, GA Dooly County) committed to the Florida Gators over several other top programs.
“Had a great ride and I wanna thank all the coaches for recruiting [me] but I decided to commit to the University of Florida,” Clayton said on Twitter.
Clayton is commitment number 21 for the Florida Gators, and he surprised the Gators coaches on Wednesday morning with his commitment according to Clayton’s uncle.
“We called Coach [Geoff] Collins this morning and he was in a meeting with Coach [Chris] Rumph when we told him the news,” Clayton’s uncle said. “He was surprised and happy to hear the news. He couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t believe that he decided to do it today [Wednesday] either.”
Rumph was one of the biggest reasons for Clayton’s commitment to Florida as the two have built quite the relationship with each other.
“Coach Rumph is Coach Rumph and that’s about all I can say about him,” Clayton said. “He’s always pumped about everything and I have great relationship with him. We are really good.”
Over the last few months Clayton has been to Florida several times and according to him every time he was in Gainesville it felt like home.
“Every time I go to Florida, they are the only thing on my mind,” Clayton said. “It was because of how me and my family felt when we went down there. It felt like home and felt like I was supposed to be there. Having those events happen were huge and a change of mind for me.”
With Clayton’s commitment to Florida the Gators now have 21 commits for the class of 2016 and he’s the first Georgia prospect to commit to Florida during this cycle.
GatorCountry will have much more on Clayton’s commitment this evening including more from his uncle and also more from Clayton himself.