Vinson believes a Florida offer is coming

With spring practice going on the Florida Gators are hosting a lot of prospects on campus to watch practice and take tours and that includes several 2017 prospects.

2017 offensive lineman Blake Vinson (6-5, 285, Ocala, FL Trinity Catholic) is one of the latest prospects to visit the Gators.

“It was pretty good visit to Florida,” Vinson said. “We got to tour all of the facilities, see the weight room and the locker room. We got to go on the field and talk to all of the coaches. We got to go out to practice too.”

Vinson, who has been to a lot of college games in the last few years, finally got a chance to see how hard the players work on the back fields of campus.

“I had never seen a college practice before so it was real interesting to see the tempo they used,” Vinson said. “It was completely different from high school because it was well organized and the tempo was out of this world. It was very fast pace practice out there.”

The 2017 offensive line has grown close to offensive line coach Mike Summers but Friday he finally got a chance to see what makes him a good coach.

“I really like Coach Summers a lot, I got to go up to a camp last summer and I thought he was a really good offensive line coach,” Vinson said. “He’s real big on technique out at practice and he coaches his linemen real hard out there. I really liked it.”

Two of the Gators assistant coaches have been leading the charge in Vinson’s recruitment and they explained to him how he could earn an offer from the Gators.

“Coach [Greg] Nord and coach Summers that even though they didn’t offer me today that they really want me to play for Florida,” Vinson said. “They said they want to come down and see me practice this spring. They said they are excited about seeing how I develop and seeing where my future goes. They said that they just need to evaluate me more first.”

Before practice started Vinson did the get the opportunity to meet head coach Jim McElwain and the lineman was impressed by the calm approach McElwain gave off.

“I got to talk to coach McElwain before practice and it was cool,” Vinson said. “I got to talk to him before but he was in a suit and a tie and this time he was just laid back and real energetic. He said that he was real excited to see me there and that he wants me to come back soon and that Florida was going to come see me soon.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: I think Florida will offer Vinson once they evaluate him this spring and he camps this summer. Vinson is still growing so that’s something that Florida is keeping an eye on as well.

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.