Gator Country

Jon Halapio of St. Petersburg Catholic will be blocking next yeat in Gainesville.

Throughout his prep career, Jon Halapio had been busy opening holes for his teammates to score touchdowns. In his final prep game earlier this month, the 2009 Florida commit got to see how the other half lives.

Halapio scored on a 7-yard run in his team’s 39-14 win over Lake Placid, which capped a 2-8 season that saw the Barons win two of their final four games and score over 20 points in three of those outings.

“The end zone is something separate from the rest of the field,” said the 6-4, 295-pound Halapio. “I never thought that I would have the chance to score a touchdown. It will probably be the last one that I score in my career. It was a lot of fun.”

Halapio, who will play guard at Florida, was switched to the position during the second half of the season by the St. Petersburg Catholic staff after playing tackle for the first half of the season.

He will make his official visit to Florida on Dec. 13 along with Utah-based defensive tackle Latu Heimuli, who like Halapio, is of Tongan descent.

“We’ve been texting back and forth,” Halapio said. “(Heimuli) seems like a good guy.”

All of this was set up at the South Carolina game where Halapio spent a lot of time talking to fellow 2009 commit, Gary Brown, a defensive tackle out of West Gadsden.

“I had a great time and the atmosphere was great,” said Halapio. “(The win) was great.”

As the recruiting process has wore on, there were rumors of Halapio having interest in Notre Dame, which offered earlier this prep season. Those reports, though, are false.

“I told them that I am a diehard Gator,” Halapio said. “I don’t care who else offered me. I am coming to play for Florida. That is where I want to play.”

Halapio is beginning to enter a rigorous workout program with offensive line coach Matt Parker in the offseason. He will also play in the Pinellas County All-Star Game on Dec. 18.

“Coach (Urban) Meyer and coach Addazio were all for it,” Halapio said. “They told me to have as much fun (with football) as I can in high school.”

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