The need for receivers and offensive playmakers has been huge this recruiting cycle. While the Florida Gators have four receivers verbally committed for the Class of 2013, they are still looking for more.
On Sunday they handed out a scholarship offer to New Smyrna Beach (Fla.) High receiver James Clark while he was on a unofficial visit.
“It’s a big offer for me,” Clark said “I’m grateful for all of my offers from all schools, but any time you get an offer from a top school like Florida it’s exciting for sure.”
The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Clark visited Florida on Sunday strictly to meet all of the coaches.
“I got to meet coach (Will) Muschamp for the first time today,” Clark said. “I got to sit down with coach (Brent) Pease to talk about game plans and I got to sit down with the coach that would be my position coach in coach (Joker) Phillips.”
When Clark visited with Muschamp the message was simple: the Gators need playmakers.
Pease’s message pretty much was the same.
“Coach Muschamp is a great guy,” Clark said. “He talked to me about the opportunity I have at Florida and how he needs big-play guys at the receiver position to make plays for them.
“Coach Pease told me about the game plan and how he plans to utilize me if I were to choose Florida. He said he would use me on speed sweeps, reverses, screens and some downfield plays.”
After sitting down with both of those coaches Clark moved on to meet with Phillips. He was impressed by the former Kentucky head coach and his experience coaching the receiver position.
“He is a great guy like coach Muschamp,” Clark said. “He has a lot of coaching experience at good schools including being a head coach. He has coached a lot of good receivers in career and he could teach me a lot. He was talking to me about different techniques and stuff to make me better.”
While this was an unofficial visit for Clark he has three official visits left. He knows of one place he will visit.
“I know I’m going to Nebraska on the (Jan.) 11th,”Clark said. “I haven’t decided where else I’ll visit right now. I’ll probably decide tomorrow on where else I’ll visit. It’s possible that I’ll visit Florida again.”
With Florida still in the mix for receiver Demarcus Robinson, Clark says the Gators have told him they will take both receivers if they both want to come to Florida.
“If they get Demarcus that’s OK,” Clark said. “It won’t bother me or affect me because that just shows that they need more receivers in this class.”