Porter impresses the Florida Gators coaching staff

Story written by Austin Reier

Hailing from the same high school as Gator signee, Lamical Perine, 2018 defensive tackle Timaje Porter was turning heads at the first camp the Florida Gators hosted this summer on Friday night.

Porter was measured by the Gator staff at six feet two inches tall and tipped the scales at 330 pounds. A miniature Vince Wilfork, if you will.

Porter dashed through the four-cone drill and dominated opposing offensive lineman on the hot Friday summer night in Gainesville during the camps offensive line/defensive drills.

After camp closed, Porter met with the Gator’s defensive line coach Chris Rumph in the indoor practice facility. Coach Rumph has made a recruiting impact at Florida since he was hired in February of 2015, and he was impressed by what he saw out of the junior to be from Theodore Alabama.

The feeling was mutual for Porter, who was singing Rumph’s praises Friday night, “Coach Rumph is really cool,” Porter explained on Friday nigh. “He’s down to earth and I really like him.”

Coach Rumph wasn’t the only coach to make an impact on Porter as Gators’ running back coach Tim Skipper [Porter’s area recruiter] also spoke with the big fella, “I talked to coach Skip and he’s actually one of my favorite coaches,” Porter said of Skipper.  “I can connect with him a lot.”

Friday night was Porter’s first time in Gainesville, and for a young man from Theodore, Alabama, Gainesville was a new and eye opening experience, “Florida is great, it’s a beautiful campus,” Porter went on to say.  “I like the feel and the environment, and from experience, I know the fans are great down here.”

While Florida was Porter’s first offer, more are surely on the way as he plans to visit three more Southeastern Conference powerhouse schools this summer in LSU, Alabama and Auburn.

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.