Gator Country

InstiGATOR1 · 01-16-2013, 07:00 PM

A nice article by Ross Woods at Rivals on Kasey Hill helping UF recruit. It talks about him recruiting Walker, but the part of most interest to UF fans now is:

Quote:

Hill is even closer to Randle, ranked No. 2 in the Rivals Top150 for the 2013 class, and he's hopeful they will be playing together in Gainesville.

"I talk to Julius as much as I can, we're both busy playing basketball and stuff, we're great friends. I just hope we get him; I'd really like to play with him. He's one of my best friends in my class. I've known him since the sixth grade."

Hill is also tight with class of 2014 Lake Highland Prep point guard recruit [db]Joel Berry[/db] II.

"He's like my brother," Hill said. "He's my best friend."

Hill's thoughts on Berry joining him at UF?

"I would LOVE that," Hill exclaimed. "It would be like the old days if we played together."

Click here to read the entire article:

http://florida.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1460931

ApexNC · 01-16-2013, 07:06 PM

Love it!

**gatordee** · 01-16-2013, 07:39 PM

Sweet!

themistocles · 01-16-2013, 08:13 PM

It is great when good players help recruit others to improve their own team.

I guess that Hill is a pretty friendly person, which is a very good quality to have.

Randle would make next year's team really extraordinary and Berry is supposed to be one of the top 2014 players.

AlexGray · 01-17-2013, 12:56 AM

UF has definitely been hard after both Randle and Berry. Goes without saying the impact that Randle's commitment could have on this class.

**Osiris_DPM** · 01-17-2013, 01:09 AM

Been telling you guys this for months

dailydoublecat · 01-17-2013, 05:31 AM

Randle is loving all this attention. There is also an article that he said that Coach Cal and him click. He is enjoying this process!!!

InstiGATOR1 · 01-17-2013, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dailydoublecat

Randle is loving all this attention. There is also an article that he said that Coach Cal and him click.

Maybe I will be shocked and Randle will pick UK, but from my view point it seems all the mention of UK in recent months have been set up in some way to defuse the reports of him not wanting to play with his local, ie Tx, competitors the Harrison brother. Now some of my view is shaped by reports and indications that UK had moved on in the Randle recruiting.

But why else, say it would be great to play with a great PG in college and mention a Harrison, but not Hill or Kabongo. It all seems calculated to me to smooth over any dislike of the other local stars.

ETGator1 · 01-17-2013, 09:13 AM

Randle's bond with coach and players appears to be strong with UF.

UFG8rGuy3283 · 01-17-2013, 10:08 AM

Our best chance at this point is for Kasey and Chris to help recruit Julius. He already has a great bond with Billy and knows how much he can help him develop.

It's funny....when you look at Randle's twitter page, the majority of the comments he gets from followers/fans are for Kansas and NC State. We have fared pretty well against Kansas in head to head recruiting the past few years (although I really wish we could have pulled Beal's teammate Ben McLemore who is at KU...that kid is a beast).

I still have yet to understand what recruits see in Gotfried. He is probably one of my least favorite coaches in any sport. The man would want a foul called against an opposing player if he were to breathe on the guy he's guarding and the officials never make a good call against his team.

If Randle really wants to be a part of a "super team", as is what I've heard about him from several people, he really has 2 choices....UF or UK. I have also heard that Wiggins is seriously considering North Carolina now as well, which is what has heated up some of the Randle to UK talk.

I think one of the things that has worked against us with Julius is his not playing due to injury this year. Just a small observation, but imo, if he were playing this year and his continued improvement from the USA team carried over to his high school season, he might be thinking harder about how Billy helped slow the game down for him. That sort of thing might not be as big in his mind when he isn't actually playing a couple of times a week.

We shall see. Randle would put us over the top next year. Would love to see him as a Gator because all indications are he's a good kid too.

gatordd · 01-17-2013, 10:14 AM

Randle to TX, just sayin' he isn't leaving momma

**ThePlayer** · 01-17-2013, 01:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gatordd

Randle to TX, just sayin' he isn't leaving momma

...or the women in Texas.

rserina · 01-17-2013, 12:04 PM

I think it is just a matter of Randle being a very nice, congenial kid. He is coachable and has great relationships with travel coaches and the staffs recruiting him. He has great relationships with kids from all over the travel circuit. He even seems to have good relationships with the recruiting services.

MadduxFanII · 01-17-2013, 12:18 PM

Quote:

(although I really wish we could have pulled Beal's teammate Ben McLemore who is at KU...that kid is a beast).

Man, you are not kidding. Kansas people are sort of in awe of McLemore, which is awfully impressive when you consider the players who have gone through that program.

Did we make a run at McLemore?

UFG8rGuy3283 · 01-17-2013, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadduxFanII

Man, you are not kidding. Kansas people are sort of in awe of McLemore, which is awfully impressive when you consider the players who have gone through that program.

Did we make a run at McLemore?

They played on the same AAU team together and from what I understood we did try to recruit him but were never a serious player. I believe he made it clear he was going to stay in the mid-west.

He always played great with Beal on the St. Louis Eagles squad. Always liked him but never thought he would be this good, this early.

REM08 · 01-17-2013, 05:04 PM

Here's a blog post Randle released today:

http://www.usatodayhss.com/news/arti...is-recruitment

kygator · 01-17-2013, 05:49 PM

Nothing that ever comes from Randle make me think he is coming to UF. Nice to see Hill is trying though.

60sDCGator · 01-17-2013, 06:00 PM

I agree. He never even mentions Florida in his blog.

GatorLurker · 01-17-2013, 06:21 PM

That's because he has been here already. He's just talking about the upcoming visits.

kygator · 01-17-2013, 06:28 PM

He already had his official visit to UK but he talks about Coach Cal in his blog. I'm not saying we have no chance. Just that none of his recent comments are ever anything for UF fans to get excited about.