Gator Country

Gideon Ajagbe came up to Gainesville for Friday Night Lights, looking forward to meeting his favorite Florida football player. Heisman Trophy quarterback Tim Tebow and the electric Percy Harvin have their large and excited followings, but Ajagbe’s favorite Gator is Chris Rainey, whose spring game performance excited the Gator Nation and a national television audience on ESPN.

“Chris Rainey is a guy that I’ve been watching for the past three years and he is amazing,” said Ajagbe, a safety from Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove. “I watch his highlight tapes on the Internet all the time and I want to do some of the things he can do. I try to watch his highlights and learn as much as I can. He is just incredible.”

Rainey was on the sidelines at Friday Night Lights but Ajagbe spent the entire evening so busy that he didn’t get a chance to meet Florida’s redshirt freshman tailback.

“I didn’t get to talk to him, but I got a chance to see him,” Ajagbe said about Rainey. “I was so wrapped up in the camp that I couldn’t really talk to him. I did throw a nod at him, to say what’s up. Hopefully I’ll meet him another time at Florida.”

Ajagbe did get plenty of opportunities to interact with the Florida coaches and his on the field performance gave them plenty to talk about.

“I did well and the coaches seemed to really like me,” he said. “I really wanted to tear things up and impress the coaches and I think I did. I talked to Coach Vance Bedford and he said he liked my movements and how competitive I was. I tried to get as many reps as possible against the top receivers that were there.”

Ajagbe is the unusual kid from Miami in that his favorite team is the Gators, not the home team Miami Hurricanes. What makes that even more surprising is that both his parents attended the University of Miami.

“I grew up cheering for Florida,” said Ajagbe, a 6-1, 198-pounder. “I’ve loved Florida forever. My brothers love Florida and my parents love Florida even though they went to UM. I also like West Virginia but my favorite is Florida.”

Ajagbe has many reasons why he loves the Gators, but one of the biggest reasons is the strength and conditioning program Florida has. Ajagbe has spent countless hours on the Internet trying to learn as much as he can about the program and implement it into his own life.

“I love the school, the atmosphere, how the stadium looks and just everything about Florida impresses me,” he said. “The strength and conditioning program is great. I go on the Internet and research how they train and work out. I’ve been trying to learn what they do and use the techniques myself so I can get better. I’ve seen how players improve at Florida, and I’m blown away by it.”

Since he is only a junior in high school, Ajagbe can’t officially receive a scholarship offer from the Gators but if and when that happens, he says he would be hard pressed to turn it down.

“I love the program at Florida and really want to be a part of it, just depends on how they feel about me,” he said. “If Florida does offer me, I wouldn’t commit right away, but I would talk to my parents and if that goes well I would probably commit. Coach Bedford said that he is going to keep his eye on me, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Last season for Ransom Everglades, Ajagbe played on offense, defense and all the special teams. As a running back he ran for 810 yards on only 80 carries and scored six touchdowns. On defense, he played safety and recorded 74 tackles. While Ajagbe plays several different positions, he expects to only play defense in college.

“I prefer playing safety, but some people think I will play linebacker in college,” he said. “I’ve been lifting a lot, but I don’t know if I will be big enough. I’ve been trying to gain as much weight as possible, but it’s hard for me, I am more lean muscle, so it’s hard for me to put on weight, I eat as much as possible, but my body doesn’t react the way it should.”

Ajagbe, who said he runs a 4.6, has spent the summer working hard to improve his game. He is focusing on his strength and speed, which he thinks really helped him perform well at Friday Night Lights and also on Saturday when he went to Florida State’s camp.

“I’ve been training exclusively for the season, but everything I’ve been doing helped me at the camps,” he said. “I went into the camps feeling pretty prepared and I thought I was ready for the drills. I really just wanted to show people that I am football player. I think I did that at both camps. At the FSU camp I got a chance to cover [NFL wide receiver] Anquan Boldin and I didn’t let him get by me which I was proud of.”

Ajagbe was pleased with both his performances this past weekend and hopes his game will continue to improve. He’s an impressive athlete and he’s got a goal of earning a Florida scholarship offer. He might provide the Gators with a great chance to slip into Dade County and come away with a big time player in the class of 2010.

About the author

Ryan Moss

Ryan Moss recently graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in Marketing in the spring of 2008 and have since left “Title Town” and returned back to Northern Virginia. In addition to working for Gator Country, he also works for a startup-consulting firm that specializes in online marketing called Eyetraffic Media. Ryan is a die hard Gator fan who was fortunate enough to have attended all three national championships.

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