Last weekend, the Florida Gators hosted 8 official visitors but they also two of the top 2024 prospects in the country on unofficial visits.
2024 linebacker Sammy Brown (6-2, 215, Jefferson, GA. High) was on campus and enjoyed getting to meet everyone for the first time on Saturday.
“It was really fun,” Brown said of his visit to Florida on Saturday. “It was good getting down there and seeing all those coaches, my dad is a coach, so I’ve been communicating with them through text messages and calls. It was really good to go down there and actually be able to talk to them in real life.”
Brown was impressed by the coaching staff that Billy Napier has built in Gainesville and impressed by the atmosphere in the building.
“I really love the energy they have going down there,” he said on his impressions of the coaching staff. “I really like what Coach [Billy] Napier is doing, Coach Napier seems like a really genuine guy and down to earth. He’s really going to turn that program around and they’re going to be elite.”
Linebackers coach Jay Bateman is the main recruiter for Brown and explained to the linebacker what exactly the Gators like about him and his game.
“Coach Bateman, I spent most the day with him, even with the official visitors there,” Brown said on who he spent the most time with on Saturday. “He’s been talking on and off with my dad before the visit. He really likes my physicality and speed. At the same time, they mentioned that I’m really good on the field but off the field too and I think that’s something really plays a big role in how I look at schools. They don’t just care about me on the field, but they care about me off the field.”
Brown and his parents actually have a connection with Napier and that helped the linebacker learn what it would be like to play for the Gators’ head coach.
“Actually, he went to the same school as my parents, he went to Furman,” he said on his talks with Napier. “It was a connection we have, and I can kind of base his personality and his view on things off of my parents.”
The Georgia native has visited several programs around the country, and he explained what makes Napier’s staff different from some of the others.
“I think it’s the energy, they really love the game of football,” Brown said on what’s different with this staff. “At the same time, they like developing young men into adults after football. I really think the energy and what they’re doing with their position and what they’re doing with the new facility is what makes them different. They’re giving the players a lot of resources for both on and off the field.”
After the visit, Brown says he wants to get back down to Gainesville to see the new facility this summer and he says he now has a lot of interest in the Gators.
“I really like what Florida is doing,” he said on his interest in Florida. “I really like what Coach Napier is doing and they’re in for the right reasons, the reasons I like. They’re more focused on the players both on and off the field. I like the standpoint they have on football.”