The Florida Gators were out on the road on Tuesday visiting several instate prospects and new defensive line coach David Turner was also on the road.
Turner visited 2020 defensive tackle Johnnie Brown (6-2, 250, Tampa, FL. Middelton) with another Gators assistant coach on Tuesday.
“Coach [David] Turner and Coach [Larry] Scott came by,” Brown said of the coaches who visited him on Tuesday. “It was great, great experience. Coach Turner is a nice guy.”
Brown doesn’t know a whole lot about Turner but the new defensive line did have a message for the defensive tackle on Tuesday night when they talked.
“I haven’t heard a lot about him yet,” he said of Turner. “He told me that he just got there but I’m a priority for him next year.”
Helping Turner recruit Brown to Gainesville is tight end’s coach Larry Scott who has had several different message for the 2020 defensive tackle.
“Coach Scott, that’s my man,” Brown said of the coach from Florida recruiting him the hardest. “He tells me a lot of things, he really don’t even talk to me much about football, he talks about academics and the benefits of going to Florida.”
Brown has been talking to the Gators for awhile now and picked up an offer from Florida in the summer but he says the coaching change on the defensive line isn’t that big of a deal to him.
“Me and Coach Sal [Sunseri] had built a relationship so I was like that’s crazy when he went to Bama,” he said on if Florida losing Sal Sunseri hurt them or not. “But then they got Coach Turner and he’s almost the same person as Coach Sal to be honest. The energy they bring is the same.”
Next up for Brown is a trip to Gainesville where he hopes to get the chance to learn more about Turner.
“I’m visiting this weekend,” Brown said of Florida. “I’m trying to get to see everything I need to see. I want to sit down with Coach Turner and see what he has to say.”
The Gators however have some tough competition for Brown as several other SEC schools are after the defensive tackle.
“Florida, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Clemson and a couple of teams,” he said of teams recruiting him hard. “Right now I’m still looking at everyone.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Brown said it’s going to be a surprise on when he makes a final decision in his recruitment. The Gators however are in good shape early on for the defensive tackle.