Gator Country

Sources tell GatorCountry that Florida has hired Brad Lawing from South Carolina. / Photo courtesy USC media relations

With Florida’s hiring of defensive line coach Brad Lawing from South Carolina, the Gators get a coach who already holds a number of ties within the southeast. Lawing is a name which should resonate immediately with d-line recruits, as the 55-year-old coached arguably college football’s best defensive lineman over the last two seasons in Carolina defensive end Jadeveon Clowney.

Now that Lawing is headed to Gainesville, the immediate focus will be centered around recruiting and whether he can positively impact the Gators’ efforts in nailing down another top-flight defensive line prospect before signing day on Feb. 6.

Gator Country.com reached out to several defensive line recruits in both this year’s and next year’s classes to see how they felt about UF’s most recent coaching addition. Here are a few of the first ones to reply via text. Check back as more feedback may be added later:

Somerville (N.J.) Immaculata defensive end Tashawn Bower – “That’s pretty good. I had a good relationship with him.”

Hope Mills (N.C.) South View defensive tackle Greg Gilmore, who’s verbally committed to LSU but was recruited by Lawing – “Good for them. They need some experience for next year.”

McDonough (Ga.) Eagle’s Landing Christian Academy defensive end Andrew Williams – “He can be a big part of Florida seeing how his success at SC was.”

Gator Country’s Alex Gray contributed to this report.

About the author

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.

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