The Florida Gators hosted four prospects for the National Championship celebration this weekend and one of the true stars of the recruiting season was here for the festivities. Belle Glade Glades Central wide receiver Deonte Thomson brought his five-star ability to Gainesville for the weekend and left with a good impression of the team and the experience in Gainesville.
With more people in attendance than a typical University of Miami home game, the Gators put on a show to celebrate their second national championship in football. In the game last week, Florida’s spread attack showed that it can showcase the talents of prospects interested in the Gators. With the recruiting classes being put together, players like a Deonte Thompson (6-0, 186) would be able to maximize their potential as defenses have to spread the field to cover all the receivers. Thompson saw that for himself against a highly touted Ohio state defense.
“I was impressed with that game, really impressed.” Thompson said. “I saw a lot of passing and spreading the ball around.”
On his trip the coaches at Florida emphasized that getting the ball in the playmaker’s hands like Thompson is what the Florida offense is all about.
“The coaches showed me that all the receivers will get a lot of touches and I know they will have a quarterback to throw to me,” he said.
He really enjoyed his visit to “Title Town” as he got to hang out with players from the championship football and basketball teams. It was the players that seemed to really get the attention of Thompson on his visit.
“It was good,” Thompson said of the visit. “I visited with the players a lot. I chatted with the coaches and saw the facilities and stuff. I liked the celebration it was good. Jarred Fayson was my host. He is a pretty cool dude and laid back. I really just liked hanging out with the players, all of them. I came up with a lot of family. They really liked the trip.”
Not ready to name any leaders, he still has a top four schools.
“The Gators are still up there,” he said. “I still a top four of Florida, Miami, Ohio State, and USC.”
Miami: “Miami is close to home and they have the great tradition.”
Ohio State: “A lot of great players from my school went up there and had success.”
USC: “I like Southern Cal, its cool. I like everything about USC.”
Gators’ Assistant Coach John “Doc” Holliday had his hands full this weekend wih three kids from his recruiting area were in the group visiting, including Thompson.
“Coach Holliday is a hard recruiter,” said Thompson. “He is going to recruit you hard. He will text you at six in the morning, he will be on you.”
Despite watching the ball go to all the receivers in the game Monday night, Thompson says the game will have little effect on his decision in the long run. It will come down to where he feels the most comfortable and the players at Florida that he hung around with could play a role in that.
“I still look at Florida the same,” he said about watching the blowout Monday night. “The game was great, but it won’t influence my decision.”
Thompson has a visit left to Miami on January 26th. He is set to make his decision sometime soon after that visit. Gator recruitniks will be holding out hope for the speed merchant to be a part of what should be a very explosive offense in the future.