Last week Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain squeezed in some time to visit a few of his top 2018 targets in the state of Florida while he was seeing 2017 prospects.
One of those 2018 targets he visited was running back Lorenzo Lingard (6-0, 180, Orange City, FL. University) and it went well according to the running back.
“Yeah they stopped by the school and talked to the coaches,” Lingard said of McElwain and Hughes visiting him last week. “I think it went pretty well. They say great things about me. That’s pretty much it because they had to talk to my coach and not me.”
McElwain and director of player personnel Drew Hughes had to talk to Lingard’s coach since he’s just a junior but the running back got the message from his coach.
“He said that they said I’m still a top priority for them,” he said of what McElwain told his coaches. “I’m the guy they want. Coach Mac told him to tell me to visualize myself in a Gator uniform tonight before I go to bed.”
Florida having two coaches by his school including the head coach is something that didn’t go unnoticed to Lingard.
“It means a lot that he came by to see me,” Lingard said. “It just shows how important I am to them and much of a focus I am to the program.”
Lingard is considered to be one of the top backs in the country but he admits he has kind of let the recruiting process take a back seat the last few months.
“I’ve kind of been kind of neutral with them on things and really pretty much every school,” he said of his communication with Florida and other schools. “I know at one point me and Coach Skip [Tim Skipper] were talking for two weeks on and off. Had some good contact there.”
When Lingard does speak with Skipper and the Gators, the running back says that Florida tells him how the Gators could use him.
“He just gave me the layout of how they would use me in the system,” Lingard said of what Skipper tells him. “He tells me how much of an impact I could make with my running style in that type of offense. He says the zone, cutback lanes, if the defense bites one side then I’ll plant my foot and cut the other way.”
The Gators aren’t the only school to visit Lingard this month as several others have been town as the running back sets up future visits.
“Georgia, Florida, Clemson, Alabama, Florida State, Miami came by and we have Texas coming by,” Lingard said on who has visited him. “I’m trying to set up some visits to see those schools this spring. “
INSIDERS TAKE: Lingard has several schools making him a top priority and the Gators are one of them. Ohio State, Florida, Miami, Georgia and Auburn are the top group of schools according to Lingard but he says he doesn’t have a leader.