Demps convinced he made right choice

A pair of old adversaries on the track spent the weekend together in Gainesville, this time on friendlier terms. South Lake’s Jeff Demps, the fastest high school football player in the country, spent his official visit at the University of Florida in the company of Chris Rainey, a freshman tailback from Lakeland who used to go head to head with Demps on the high school and AAU track circuits. They are going to be teammates at Florida next year and the thought of so much speed on the field will be a future nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators.

Demps, who committed to the Gators a couple of weeks ago, had a good visit to the Florida campus, enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with future teammates and get some one-on-one time with Coach Urban Meyer.

“The visit was good,” Demps said. “I came up Friday around six o’clock and went to Coach Meyer’s for dinner. That was a lot of fun.”

The friendship between Demps and Rainey began on the track circuit. Now they will be teammates at Florida and it’s a chance for them to strengthen their friendship.

“Chris Rainey was my host,” Demps said. “We’ve known each other for about a year or two. It was pretty fun hanging out with him. We got a lot closer.”

Demps also had a chance to spend time with linebacker Lerentee McCray, the linebacker from Dunnellon who committed to UF this past Wednesday. They became friends back in the fall when they were visiting the same schools.

“We spent a lot of time together,” Demps said. “We’ll probably end up rooming together.”

He got to know some of his future teammates such as Mike and Maurkice Pouncey, Ahmad Black and Jerimy Finch. He made a point to meet recruits in Gainesville for the weekend and had fun spending the weekend with them.

“I met Omar Hunter, Julio Jones, Cookie Buchanan, William Green and Burton Scott, but I’ve talked to Burton before this weekend,” Demps said.

Saturday night, Demps attended the Florida-Kentucky basketball game at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. The loud, rowdy crowd helped convince Demps that he had made the right decision when he chose to be a Gator.

“That was actually my second Gator basketball game,” Demps said. “The atmosphere was crazy in there.”

It was a full weekend of activity that finished off with Sunday breakfast with Coach Meyer.

“We did most of the academic stuff on Saturday,” Demps said. “Sunday was mostly just hanging out. We had breakfast with Coach Meyer. We talked about everything from football to school. He was just telling us how much he can’t wait to get us up there.”

After a weekend hanging around with future teammates and fellow recruits Demps came away with a positive impression.

“I think it’s a great class,” Demps said. “It’s got to be one of the best in the nation. It might even be one of the best Florida has ever had.”