Clayton and McCollum talk Florida Gators and more: Podcast

This GatorCountry.com podcast focuses on recruiting as the guys are joined by Christian McCollum of Irish Sports Daily, plus Florida Gators defensive end commit Antonneous Clayton joins the show.

Andrew Spivey and Nick de la Torre talk Under Armour All-American game and Army All-American game with McCollum, plus get his opinion on which game is better.

Andrew and Nick are joined by Clayton towards the end of the show as they ask him about his play in Orlando, plus his take on the Florida Gators recruiting class.

TRANSCRIPT:

Andrew:                 What’s up, Gator Country? This is your man, Andrew Spivey, here with Nicholas de la Torre. Nicolas, say hello.

Nick:                         Hello, hello. We are back after the Army game, which means the final early enrollee, Feleipe Franks, will be on campus soon, and the 2016 recruiting class, at least as far as the early enrollees, are wrapped up.

Andrew:                 By the time people are listening to this he’ll be on campus. He should be driving. We’re taping this at 2:30 on Sunday, and he’s probably either arrived already or is driving there. That’s a good sign. Twelve early enrollees on campus. We’re going to kind of have a special show this time. We’re going to be joined by Under Armour All American defensive end Antonneous Clayton from Georgia, and then also a good friend of ours, Christian McCollum, from Irish Sports Daily. Christian is a good friend of mine, as well as yours. Had the opportunity to go out to the Army game as well, and we’re going to pick his brain about some prospects, and overall the difference in the games. We look at the game yesterday, Saturday, and the west blows out the east, and not to get ahead of ourselves, but a lot of the south or the east top players were in Orlando the week before, so we’ll dig a little bit more into that with Christian and get that. I know a lot of people were wondering what was kind of going on in that game.

Nick:                         It’s pretty unique. Since you’ve the two games you kind of have all the best kids in the country get split, and you kind of go pick one or the other, but what we’re really seeing is the kids from the south, mainly Florida, Georgia, Alabama, those kids, probably the kids that Florida fans are most familiar with, are really just choosing to stay closer to home. You go to the Under Armour game, get some sweet Under Armour gear, hang out in Orlando, go see Disney, stuff like that, rather than going to Texas and the Army game where you’re doing two a days. It’s really just two very differently run bowl games, or All American games, and the west has kind of dominated because of that, because of those kids from the south staying and going to the Under Armour game. The west has kind of dominated. They won their third straight Army All American game yesterday.

Andrew:                 No disrespect to the Army game, because it is a great thing for a great service, the Army guys and the military in general, getting to hang out with the Army and getting to bond with those guys, pay tribute to the armed forces, that kind of stuff, is a great thing for that. You’re starting to see more of if you have a family that’s in there, like a Feleipe Franks, going there, but your typical prospect that’s going to a bowl game to have fun goes away from it. Not because of the Army and the armed forces service, but because of the two a day practices, the less hands on with the pros. The Under Armours you get the Deion Sanders of the world, the Plaxico Burresses of the world, the Herm Edwards, Steve Mariuccis. When you go to the Army game you’re getting more your high school guys, and no disrespect to those guys, but it plays a big part in these kid’s minds.

Nick:                         Yeah. I wasn’t trying to say the better kids go to one game over the other. I think it’s really just kind of a location thing, kind of a geographical thing. You got a lot of kids from California, kids from Texas that choose to go to San Antonio or to Houston. Where is the game played?

Andrew:                 San Antonio, the Alamo Dome.

Nick:                         Yeah. Choose to go to San Antonio rather than out to Florida, and I think it’s just you’re seeing a little disparity in the way that they handle the teams. Under Armour has gotten around that by not playing east versus west. There’s kids from all over the country on both teams, and they really try to just balance the teams. Maybe that’s something that the Army game would look into if the west keeps dominating this way, but one thing, I think my favorite thing about the Army game is seeing all of the service men and women in the stands in their fatigues, seeing an entire section or an entire side of the Alamo Dome completely just all servicewomen, servicemen. I think that’s really unique about the bowl game, something that looks great on TV.

Andrew:                 Yeah. It would be a tough decision for me if I was a prospect, because part of it is, I don’t want to say it’s playing for your country, because it’s not, of course, but to go out there and to hang out with those guys would be cool, and an awesome experience, but at the same time if I’m a big time quarterback, and I get to go get coached up by Deion Sanders and get the newest Under Armour swag, it’d be a choice. It’d be tough. Then, like you say, if you’re a kid from Texas you probably want to get out of Texas and go to Florida, and if you’re a kid from Florida, you probably want to stay there when it’s 90 degrees I the wintertime.

Nick:                         Of course, because Florida is the greatest state in the Union.

Andrew:                 I don’t know about all that.

Nick:                         I stand by that.

Andrew:                 I don’t know about all that, but you know what I’m saying? You and I talked about that the other day. It’s 90 degrees in Orlando, and it’s Christmastime. Last week in San Antonio it’s 50 and 60 degrees and wind chill and getting freezing at night. I don’t know. It’s interesting. We’ll talk to Christian about that as well. Also big news, offensive lineman Marcus Tatum is going to be deciding on Monday at 2:45, my pick’s in for Tennessee. Don’t feel very good about him picking the Gators right now. It’s a big loss for the Gators, because it a was a top priority for Florida. The one thing I’ll say is Tatum wasn’t a guy that was going to play next year anyway, so you’ve got to go find a guy that can replace that and to be a guy that is preparing for the future. The only bad thing about it is you lose an in state prospect to an arch rival in Tennessee.

Nick:                         Sort of an interesting recruitment process. Tatum is a guy that maybe even all the way back to before football season we thought, and fans thought, this is a guy who probably could pull the trigger and commit to Florida soon, at any time.

Andrew:                 Yeah. He told me multiple times, “If my mom would let me commit I’ve already committed. If my mom would let me commit.” Part of me wonders is mom just never going to sign off on Florida, or was he always using an excuse to maybe look elsewhere? What was it?

Nick:                         I kind of like that. In talking to Quincy Wilson’s father, Chad Wilson, in talking to him a bunch, he told Quincy throughout the recruiting process, “Listen, I know you want to commit to Florida, but you’re not committing and then decommitting. When you make a choice, that’s it. So when you make it, make sure that that’s where you’re going to go.” To me, maybe if mom said, “You might feel this way, but you don’t have to do anything until February. You might feel different in February. I don’t want you being one of those kids who commits to seven different schools in seven months, and then signs with the eighth.”

Andrew:                 Right. That’s a good thing there. I did think once his buddy, defensive end Jachai Polite, committed to Florida that it was even more of a slam dunk for Florida, but he did visit Tennessee for a bowl practice, and I guess that’s kind of where things turned for that. I’ll say this, and that is a lot of people in Daytona, if he does end up picking Tennessee like I believe, are going to be shocked, because Daytona people still believe that Marcus goes to Florida. Here’s the interesting thing. He does have an official set up to Florida for the 15th, which is this coming weekend. Does he actually take that visit, or does he cancel it? If he takes that visit, we’ll see. That doesn’t mean that decision’s final. If he doesn’t take that official, then decision’s final, and Florida needs to move on completely.

Nick:                         Exactly. I think that would telling. Obviously he’ll make his decision on Monday. He has it scheduled for 2:45. Okay, I put on the Tennessee hat, and I’m not going to Florida on that visit this weekend, think you close the book there. On the other hand, I’m committing to Tennessee, but I’m still going to take that visit to Florida, I think you might, if I’m Florida I might still bring him on that visit. He’s obviously not 100% sold if he’s going to commit and then still take that visit to come and see Florida.

Andrew:                 Right. That’s exactly right. I don’t know. We’ll see. Good thing is Florida still has a good amount of offensive line prospects on the board, Juwan Williams from Maryland. You’ve got Juwan Williams from Maryland, Landon Dickerson from North Carolina. You’ve got a couple more guys in Maryland in Richard Merritt, Terence Davis, those two guys there. You still have Brandon Cop out of Texas, who’s committed to Vanderbilt there. You got some targets. Unlike past years you’ve got some guys wanting to visit and are going to visit. Now it’s about closing the door, and Florida’s not in great shape with any of those guys. Signing three offensive linemen in this class can happen, or you get into a Will Muschamp situation of begin down in numbers. Then you can’t just sign a body to sign a body. Some way, shape, or form Florida’s got to turn this around and get a body that’s going to be able to play in two to three years when Florida needs them to replace Martez Ivey or needs them to replace David Sharpe. Florida’s going to need that to happen.

Nick:                         A lot of what Jim McElwain had to contest with this season is due to the fact that the offensive line recruiting sometimes the numbers were down, also you’ve had three or four guys take medical hardship. So you really can’t afford in your first full recruiting class to not get the number of guys you want. It’s also a balancing act of we want five, we want six. We only have four. Do we just take two more just to take them? Then you can get into a situation where numbers aren’t adding up down the line. I do think it is important to, if you have some guys that maybe you think are good enough to play in a couple years that maybe you haven’t been recruiting as hard, because you’re waiting on some other people, might be time to start texting them and getting after them on Twitter again.

Andrew:                 Exactly. That’s the thing. It’s time. I always say, you find out how good your recruiting staff is in January, because that’s when the best of the best make their money, and guys like Nick Saban, guys like Urban Meyer, that’s when they turn the heat up on guys. We’ll see. This is a good recruiting staff. Don’t get me wrong. We’ll see how good Mike Summers and those guys can close, because it’s make or break time for offensive linemen. Let’s move on real quick. Let’s go to Christian McCollum from Irish Sports Daily, get his comments on things. Then we’ll get Antonneous Clayton to come on and talk about his act in the Orlando game, as well as how he’s recruiting. Then you and I can finish this bad boy up.

Nick:                         There we go.

Andrew:                 We’re back, Gator Country, with my good friend, Christian McCollum. Christan, you’re back from San Antonio. I know it’s a little bit different weather for you. Ready to come back to Orlando?

Christian:             Yeah. I wish I could be back there any time soon. I’m in Massachusetts right now, and it’s cold and dreary, but I’m still glad to be back after about a week and a half on the road.

Andrew:                 I hear you. You and I were in Orlando together, and then you went out to San Antonio. My first question to you is can you compare the difference in the two atmospheres? A lot of kids are saying they don’t like the atmosphere in San Antonio, the two a days. What was your perception of the two events in general?

Christian:             When you’re around the Under Armour game they have all the Under Armour attitude there, and they’re loud, and at time it can feel contrived and everything like that, but it’s a lot better than what’s at Army in terms of, I wasn’t at Under Armour the beginning of the week, but pretty much the entire week at Army was almost like all install. The energy level is extremely low. Everything was about half speed. It wasn’t very many competitive reps at all. Sometimes they get into some team stuff, and you get to look at some of the offensive linemen, but we didn’t really see any one on ones. It’s kind of disappointing too. When you get that kind of caliber of talent together in one place, in one setting, and then that practice week is really the opportunity to see these guys go some of the best against some of the best all week. Obviously the game’s the highlight, but the practice is such an opportunity to see these guys go against each other. I feel like Army just kind of wasted that chance.

Andrew:                 We were talking, Nick and I were talking about this before you came on with us. It’s the difference between the Under Armour swagger, the Adias swagger, but also you do have the hanging out with the Army guys, the armed forces out there. I guess, where do you see this going? Do you see the Under Armour starting to take over this more and more, because I do?

Christian:             I think what you’re going to see is they’re going to shift where a lot more kids want to go to Under Armour, and not just because of the factors that we just talked about. The first couple days of practice in San Antonio there was almost no parents at the practices, and I communicated with a few of them, and they said they had no idea what the hell was going on. It’s not just on the field the excitement level. These parents, they don’t know what’s going on. Extremely quiet. No kind of atmosphere around.

So my guess is Army’s going to probably get a little bit of backlash. I know some parents told me flat out if another parent asked them they were going to tell them that they didn’t really enjoy it, and kind of advise them to go to Under Armour. I think you’ll see a swing back towards Under Armour, a lot more kids more excited about that, but my guess is after that happens Army’s going to look at themselves and say, what do we have to do to correct this, and make some adjustments.

Nick:                         Another thing, something that stuck out to me as the west kind of cruised to a win, their third in a row, is a lot of the kids from Alabama, from Georgia, from Florida, are choosing to go to the Under Armour game, and Under Armour doesn’t really do an east versus west. You can have a kid from Washington State on the same team as a kid from Coral Springs, Florida. To me, if you’re taking a huge pool of kids from those three states, which have some of the best talent in the south, and they’re not going to the Army game, and then you have an east versus west, it kind of gives you that unbalanced game, and maybe Army needs to look at changing that and not doing east versus west and just trying to get two complete teams, because when it comes down to it, the game, which is what everyone is tuning in for, and what they’re selling advertising for, that product is diminished because of it.

Christian:             That’s a good point. You look at Alabama. They had a graphic up there on the Under Armour game, and they have like 42 players on their roster that played in the Under Armour game, so you’re right. You’re taking a huge talent base from those SEC schools like that out of that game and trying to make it east versus west. It can kind of tilt the factors. I know they did put Jacob Eason on the east, Washington quarterback going to Georgia. I was told that that was done because Jacob wanted to go ahead and play with his Georgia targets when he initially committed to play in the game. So maybe they wouldn’t allow that if it was vice versa, but it’s something they want to do. I’m sure there’s something to look at, but I think they also are trying to get some kind of rivalry between the east and west, but like you said, right now it’s not much of a rivalry.

Nick:                         Yeah. To what you mentioned as far as practice goes, Under Armour does a really good job of kind of building that competitive environment at practice, and the Team Highlight and Team Armour are working separately, so you’re going against your own teammates, but someone like Chauncey Gardner is going up against Frankie Hammond, and they’ll be teammates next year at Florida, or both of them are actually already on campus, but they’re talking trash, and they’re getting after it. The competitive juices are there from the very first practice, even though they’re doing install. There’s a lot of one on one stuff that they do, and I think it’s really a better environment. If you have a group of kids who are all considered to be the best in the country, why not just put them out there and let them go up against each other and see how the cards fall?

Christian:             Yeah. I’ll tell you, especially coming right off of Under Armour going to Army, I was pretty stunned. I kept waiting around. Here we go, this is the period where they’re really going to get after it, and then they didn’t. I was at Under Armour for, I saw two practices at Under Armour, and Friday was a straight walkthrough with no pads. What I saw Thursday at one day, which would have been a slower day I imagine, was more than anything I saw the entire week at Army, and I’m not exaggerating. They had a lot of people walking around saying, when they get to the standing around part of the game they’re going to be awesome at that, because that’s all they’re doing. It was really embarrassing.

Andrew:                 That’s what I was going to ask you. I guess after seeing that you don’t get a good evaluation of these guys from practice, so I would say that it was kind of a wasted opportunity to evaluate the best players in the country, kind of like you said. You want to see Feleipe Franks or Jacob Eason going in seven on seven or 11 on 11 drills in practice where they’re going up against five star DBs or five star linebackers, more so than routes on air.

Christian:             Yeah. Absolutely. The energy level was so low that I think that carried over. I will say the west probably got after it a little bit more on certain days. I heard the east did get after it just a tiny bit more the first day when I slipped over to the west, but the east practices were so sloppy the first time they went team they probably ran 20 plays, and I’m not exaggerating more than half those plays were false starts or fumbled snaps. I think they fumbled a snap on their first possession or second possession during the game, and I wasn’t even surprised. It was just so sloppy, and it never got a chance to get picked up. There was ten times more energy level at the combine than there was at any point of practice all week.

Andrew:                 Right. Let me ask you this, and this is something you and I talked about. I know you didn’t get to watch a ton of the quarterback play, but Feleipe Franks, Jacob Eason, and a lot of the quarterbacks looked just really bad in the game. How were they in practice compared to the game, and did you see anything that really stood out from Franks at all in practice?

Christian:             I didn’t see anything that really stood out from Franks. He’s a bigger dude than I thought he was going to be, and he can throw the ball, that’s for sure. I know I was kind of hating on the energy level and all that stuff, but there was moments when they get into it, when they went ahead and throw the ball and everything like that, where some of them had their moments, but none of those guys on the east were consistent at all all week. I mean, the guys on the west, KJ Costello, he had some moments, but obviously Shea Patterson was the one that stood out in the game, and he was the one that stood out all week. There was a clear separation all week between Shea and the rest of those guys. The only really to say about Franks, like I said, is that he’s a lot bigger dude than I thought he was going to be.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s the biggest thing he has going for him right now is he has the tools, and just maybe needs to work on the mental side and the game side of it. Let’s shoot back to the Under Armour game a little bit. You and I sat in the press box, and we were talking about this defensive line from the Under Armour game, guys like Antonneous Clayton and Ed Oliver and those guys. I’ve said it a lot that I thought Clayton was just really good off the edge. Give me your opinion, your unbiased opinion, because, of course, I’m going to give a biased opinion, on what you saw at that Under Armour game that stood out to you.

Christian:             You mentioned Clayton. Off the edge he’d be a force. He really stood out, Ed Oliver as well. Sometimes in those All-Star games you get some of those guys and they really kind of mess things ups, because the offense can’t really keep going, but Clayton, he’s a guy that, is he coming in early or no?

Andrew:                 Not coming in early. He’ll be in in May.

Christian:             Okay. He’s a guy that maybe down the road, he’s probably going to be better down the road than he is now, but with his tools and his size, and the way he gets after it, he’s a guy that’s definitely going to be a force for you guys down there for years to come.

Andrew:                 Definitely. Christian, I appreciate you coming on. We just wanted to compare this game with you and talk. We’ll let you go back to your snow up in Massachusetts.

Christian:             I appreciate it guys. I’ll be down there soon.

Andrew:                 You got it, Christian. Thanks for coming on. Take care.

Christian:             See you.

Nick:                         No thank you on the snow.

Andrew:                 No thank you on the snow, Nick?

Nick:                         Not at all.

Andrew:                 Nick, for everyone that doesn’t know, you came into the Senior Bowl a couple years ago, and it was just a little like sleeting, I guess you could say. Maybe a little snow flurries, and my man was about to die. He didn’t even know how to turn his windshield wipers on with a little sleet on his car.

Nick:                         I thought I was going to break the windshield wipers, because there was ice on the car. We don’t do that. There’s no ice. The only ice I know goes in my drink, and not on my car.

Andrew:                 The good thing I can tell you is Senior Bowl week this year looks beautiful, so that should make you happy.

Nick:                         Beautiful Mobile, Alabama.

Andrew:                 There you go. It was interesting with Christian, and it’s concerning to me a little bit, because you go to these All-Star games, speaking of the Senior Bowl, the Senior Bowl practices are what it is. The coaches don’t even go to the games. Under Armour, it’s what the practices are. If they’re not giving full speed at the Army game I’m a little concerned about that. I think prospects are going to be deterred away from going there, because everyone wants to compete. They don’t want to go out there and have just this big walkthrough all week long.

Nick:                         At some point, yes, you want to put on a good show when game day comes, but it’s an All-Star game. There’s no way the offense is going to catch up to the defense in one week’s time to build that consistency, to build that timing that they need to. So why are you going to spend six days doing walkthrough and then the seventh day you have a game? Let the kids go out there and have a good time. This is supposed to be a reward for a lifetime of hard work. They’ve earned the right to be called an All American. Let them enjoy that week. I think Under Armour does a good job letting the guys hang out in the hotel room, go to the parks, and enjoy more than just playing football.

Andrew:                 That’s what I was going to say. It’s an All-Star game, so offense is not going, you’re not going to be able to draw up a ton of plays. It’s an All-Star game with a bunch of All-Stars. It’s kind of like the NBA All-Star game where it’s fun, because why? There’s points being scored. Get the game going to a points scoring game of an offense, and just let your playmakers go out there and have fun. It’s something that I’ve heard from multiple people, not just Christian, that a lot of reporters and a lot of people that go out there and cover the game were upset, because it was a waste of time per say, because they didn’t get to see that one on one competitive.

You’re able to go to the Under Armour game, you’re able to see Chauncey Gardner go one on one against Tyrek Cleveland, Benjamin Victor, Nate Craig, whoever it is that he’s going up there, and you’re able to have the good comparison of what they’re going to do at the next level because of that. Antonneous Clayton made himself a name for himself at the Under Armour game because he was able to beat every offensive lineman in one on one drills, not just in walkthrough.

Nick:                         Yeah. I think that’s something, and it’s a kid from Florida or a kid from Georgia you hear a lot about, some of the best players from across the country, and then now this might be your first time to go up against them. I’d rather, if I’m Antonneous Clayton, I’d rather line up against, is it Greg Little?

Andrew:                 Greg Little, yeah.

Nick:                         I’d rather line up against Greg Little and go 100%, a one on one rep, rather than standing up and doing a walkthrough.

Andrew:                 Rather than play rock, paper, scissors.

Nick:                         Yeah.

Andrew:                 Yeah. That’s my thing. You go out there. If you’re not going out there to compete, then stay home. That’s the way I look at it. Speaking of Antonneous Clayton, Nick, he’s ready for us. So let’s bring on the big dog, Mr. Under Armour All American Antonneous Clayton.

Welcome back, Gator Country. I’m with big time defensive end, Antonneous Clayton, Under Armour All American. Antonneous, how are you doing, and thanks for coming on with us.

Antonneous:      I’m doing real good, man. I appreciate you guys for having me on the show.

Andrew:                 Definitely.

Antonneous:      It’s a great honor being on this show and talking about my recruiting process and how everything is going right now.

Andrew:                 We really appreciate you. You dominated the Under Armour week. Kind of came in, I would say you came in with a little chip on your shoulder wanting to prove some people that you were a good football player. Kind of describe that week for us. How was that week? What do you feel like you did well, and is there anything that you think you could have done better?

Antonneous:      When I first came in I had that mindset that I wanted to compete. I already had that grudge, because some of the recruits that were there, not calling any names, were calling me out saying I was going to get exposed by some of these big time linemen. I had to kind of like prove to all of these guys that I was the guy. I came to compete. I mean, as far as I had a good three days of practice. The third day I didn’t do as good as the first two days. I don’t know why, but I could have done better on the third day, because I got player of the day, I mean Alpha Dog, the first two days of practice. The third day I didn’t get it. That was kind of sad to me, because I wanted it all three days.

Nick:                         Can you tell the listeners what that award is, how it’s awarded, which coach gives it to you?

Antonneous:      Nobody even awarded it to me. I mean, I think it was like Rival or 24/7. They had tagged me in a post on Twitter saying that Alpha Dog on Team Armour was me, and they did it the second day. Then the third day Ed Oliver had got it.

Andrew:                 I guess, how would you describe the week? Was it a good fun work week? How was it interacting with the best of the best that week?

Antonneous:      To me when I first got out there I wasn’t really like planning on building bonds with anybody. I was like maybe staying closer to Florida commits, like Chauncey, Josh, Jake Young. I was staying close to those guys, and Brett, which was my roommate. I had a really good bond with him up there. Just as far as just going up there and having a good week of practice and getting to know those guys better. It really brought us closer, especially on game day. Everybody really did their part on game day.

Andrew:                 You said you got to build a bond with those commits. I guess, Chauncey’s probably the biggest talker of the group. How would you describe that group?

Antonneous:      Chauncey’s the mouth, but he’s the guy that can back it up. Brett’s kind of cool, chill, laid back, and so is Josh. I’m really just the quiet type. I really don’t say anything. As far as the loud person of the group it would have to be Chauncey, no doubt.

Andrew:                 You got to go out there, and the game didn’t go maybe as you feared. How would you describe your future teammates, Chauncey and those guys? Do you think they had good weeks as well?

Antonneous:      Really good weeks. Josh had a one-handed catch in practice. Chauncey had a pick six. Brett had a couple of good plays on the offensive line, and I did what I was supposed to do. They posted it on Twitter, so that speaks for itself what I did. As far as everybody had a good week. Everybody came out and did what they were supposed to do. Everybody came out and showed up. Nobody came out soft or anything. They really represented Florida in a really good way.

Nick:                         We saw you on the practice field, but they have a lot of stuff that you guys do off the field. You said you were sticking with Brett and Josh and Chauncey. How much trash talk is there among you Florida guys and maybe some Florida State commits or Clemson commits, Alabama commits? How much back and forth is there during that week between guys who are committed to different schools?

Antonneous:      It was mainly Chauncey with all DBU debate with LSU. It was just mainly Chauncey. Josh wasn’t really talking any trash. Brett wasn’t either. It was like mainly Chauncey, but we’re going to back him up regardless, because that’s going to be our brother for the next three or four years. We were backing him and everything, but as far as competitive who was the best we left that up to Chauncey. As far as us other three commits we just let our play speak for itself.

Nick:                         The DBU thing kind of took off this year, but Florida’s had some great defensive linemen, some great pass rushers like you. Is there anyone at Florida, I know you got a chance to meet Dante Fowler, is there anyone at Florida that played your position that maybe you kind of looked up to?

Antonneous:      I really looked up to Alex McAlister a lot, because our build is kind of the same. We both came from basketball, had a love for basketball, somewhere down the line we kind of fit football in there and it actually turned out pretty well.

Andrew:                 You’ve gotten close to Dante Fowler a little bit. You’ve talked to him, and then after the game you talked to his dad a little bit. What’s their advice to you? What are they telling you about Florida and about getting out there at Florida on the defensive line?

Antonneous:      Mainly when I was talking to Dante he was like, just make it out of high school. He told me he already saw my film when I headed up to the Jacksonville game when Georgia played Florida. He said my main thing is just make it out of high school. He said to work hard and practice, watch film, just work hard on the little things, get those extra hours of practice in, and then you’ll be all right no matter what. You just have to want it basically. Then with Dante’s dad, he just asked me like one question. He’s like, so you’re the one who’s going to carry on the legacy? I was like, I want to do it, but at the same time I want to create my own legacy.

Andrew:                 Do you see wearing #6 in the future?

Antonneous:      I can. I want to. That’s the main number I want, but I think Quincy has it, doesn’t he, Quincy Wilson?

Andrew:                 He does. Maybe you can talk him out of it. Antonneous, you’re going to come in on an official visit to Florida in a couple weeks. I guess, what is that official about? Is it more just hanging out, having fun? Do you want to recruit some guys that weekend? What are you all about that weekend?

Antonneous:      I’m all about, Florida has already shown me what I wanted to see. There’s not really much that they haven’t shown me that I wanted to see. The main thing they have to show me now is just the dorms and the classes, and the indoor, but I already saw videos on the indoor. I’ll just use this official visit to just get away for a little bit, get a little bit more feel for Florida, build some more relationships, get to know my family better, things like that. If I see some guys there, and if they’re not committed, I’ll just try to get them to hop on board, but if they’re already committed just hang out, have good times.

Andrew:                 Antonneous, Nick, I guess do you have any questions for Antonneous before we let him give a final message?

Nick:                         No. Travel safe on that trip down for the official visit, and enjoy it.

Andrew:                 Antonneous, any final message to Gator fans before we get you out of here?

Antonneous:      Just know that D line will be nasty next year when I come in.

Andrew:                 Definitely. Antonneous, we really appreciate you, and I can speak for Nick, we’re looking forward to seeing you in the Swamp next year.

Antonneous:      No doubt.

Andrew:                 Take care, buddy.

Nick:                         Thank you.

Antonneous:      You too.

Andrew:                 Nick, got to hear from him. He’s a confident guy. He may be a quiet guy, but he’s a confident guy. He believes in himself. You never want to say you want a guy that’s cocky, but you want a guy that believes in himself, and that’s exactly what Antonneous does. Florida’s getting a good player.

Nick:                         Yeah. I would say as confident as a Chauncey Gardner, just a different kind of person. Whereas Chauncey is confident and is going to tell you how confident he is, Antonneous kind of just keeps that inside, and he’s more of a quiet player, quiet person, but quiet doesn’t mean bad, and he definitely is a confident guy. Like you asked him, he definitely went into the Under Armour week with a chip on his shoulder. Impressed me. I didn’t know what to expect out of him, and after seeing him for a week in practice going up against Greg Little and some of those guys there I think Florida has a really good player and a great pass rusher coming in in Clayton.

Andrew:                 Yeah. I told him straight up at the Under Armour game I expected him to be good, but did I expect him to be as dominating in practice? No. Never did I see that to happen to where for two days straight he was nine for nine in one on one reps. That’s unheard of. The thing is he’s playing a little banged up. We didn’t even talk to him about that. He has a little shoulder issue that is going to be cleaned up at therapy, that kind of stuff. We didn’t even talk about that. Not even playing full percent, and he’s there and ready to go. He’s an ambassador for the program that McElwain and those guys really like.

Nick:                         He’s somebody who kind of just shut the recruiting process down. Committed to Florida, was very happy with Florida, and that’s it. Going to take an official to Florida, but he’s not one of those kids that’s going to create a lot of drama, which I know that fans will appreciate. I know that you as covering recruiting will appreciate, and I know the coaching staff will appreciate it too. They’ll be happy to get him down on campus, and he’s really just going down to take that official. If someone’s going to fly you in and put you up, don’t turn that down.

Andrew:                 Yeah. Don’t turn that down at all.

Nick:                         Don’t turn down free trips.

Andrew:                 And free food. Big guy like Antonneous is trying to gain weight. Steaks and lobsters and everything else. As Chauncey Gardner says, that shrimp for breakfast, that’ll put on some weight on the big guy from Georgia. If you have any question whatsoever about Antonneous’s commitment to Florida, his tweet the other night. I just cut my finger, and I’m bleeding orange and blue. What’s going on? That’s about as committed as you possible can. Geoff Collins and Chris Rumph and Drew Hughes and McElwain, those guys, they worked really hard, because the thing that a lot of people don’t know is he does have some connections to Auburn in Montravius Adams that’s there now, and he really liked Florida State. Florida was in a battle and just won out. When they won out they decided they were going to put the nail in the coffin and keep the guy. Big pickup. While I say I think he is a guy that needs to add weight, he’s a guy that can come in on 3rd down and you say go get the passer, and go get the passer. I don’t know if he plays every down next year, until he gains some weight, but he’s a guy that you can definitely expect to maybe get in there and get some pass rushing going, as we saw at the Under Armour game.

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s kind of the role that we saw Jon Bullard and Dante Fowler take as freshmen. Clayton does need to put on some weight. We’re not talking about, he’s not paying defensive tackle, so he doesn’t need to get up to 300 pounds, but you’d like to see him probably in that 265, 270 range. So he’s got some ways to go, but the speed and his quickness off the ball. I would also like to see him get with Coach Rumph and add a little more to his repertoire as far as pass rushing moves, but he’s young. He’s going to be a freshman. I do think when you get into those 3rd down packages, like you were talking about, it’s simple. It’s like the coaching staff talked about offensive linemen, freshmen offensive linemen last year, and they said, we’re not trying to put more on their plate. We’re trying to take some off their plate to make things simple. 3rd down, 3rd and long, it’s simple, like you said. Go get the passer.

Andrew:                 Go get the passer. I think Florida will be perfectly okay if he’s around 245, 250 by his junior year, like that McAlister. McAlister right now is what? Maybe 250.

Nick:                         Maybe 250. He compares himself to McAlister. I think he’s bigger.

Andrew:                 To me he’s got the Dante Fowler frame.

Nick:                         Yeah. That’s why I was saying into that 260, 270 range, more like Fowler than like McAlister. To me McAlister looked like a basketball player. Clayton doesn’t really look like a basketball player.

Andrew:                 He looks like a power forward that I wouldn’t want to meet.

Nick:                         Maybe.

Andrew:                 Me playing point guard it’d be all right, if I decided to attack the rim. We’ll just have to maybe take Clayton out to the court and let me do my thing.

Nick:                         That would not end well for you.

Andrew:                 Probably not. That first step and my big self probably wouldn’t go together. We’ve had a good show here. We’ve had Christian McCollum on. He talked about that, and then get Antonneous talking about his recruitment and that kind of stuff. The dead period ends Wednesday night at midnight. So coaches will be out there probably at midnight if parents will allow them to be there, and then next weekend starts the official visit weekend, and it’s three weeks of marathon or sprint to Signing Day.

Nick:                         You will be a busy man on Wednesday until Signing Day, and maybe we’ll have a Cece Jefferson, Alex Collins kind of saga, and it’ll even go past Signing Day and a couple days after.

Andrew:                 How about you shut your face?

Nick:                         You got to love Signing Day drama. Maybe someone’s dad or mom or uncle will run off with the letter of intent, and you’ll have to pull some overtime.

Andrew:                 Or a Byron Cowart where he still doesn’t know after he announces kind of deal. Never know. I think Florida will be done on Signing Day. The only guy that is a question mark is Aaron Robinson, and that’s because he hasn’t taken the test score.

Nick:                         Not Florida’s fault.

Andrew:                 Yeah, not Florida’s fault. He could be a guy that maybe Florida and other schools wait until he gets that test score back. I think he gets the test score back February 11, so that would be a week after Signing Day. Maybe Florida and other schools wait on that. I don’t know the policy of that. Strictly speaking on an opinion, I don’t know. Maybe that question is, but that wouldn’t be a situation of someone stealing a letter of intent, but the good thing is it is the sprint to Singing Day. Florida’s got to go get offensive linemen. If there is a push to the end it’s getting offensive linemen and then getting another big time receiver out of this Class of 2016, and then guess what? The next day Class of 2017 starts.

Nick:                         Yeah. Right on it. Right back on it, and it’s like Mac says, recruit daily or die. Got to get back onto that 2017 class, but it’ll be, like you said, a wild race to the finish as soon as the dead period ends. You know where to stay tuned. You got me on Twitter, NickdelaTorreGC, AndrewSpivey, @AndrewSpiveyGC on Twitter. Always follow us @GatorCountry on Twitter. www.GatorCountry.com on the world wide internets, and that’s it. It should be a lot of work for us, and a lot of coffee for me.

Andrew:                 We’ll have some cool new edits coming out this week from my man, Kevin Camps, and also Gator Edits always helping us out and bringing the fire edits. Give them a follow on Twitter as well, because they are definitely a part of this mission as we go to Signing Day. They’ll be coming with some cool edits. Kevin has already given us a preview of Signing Day edits, so that’ll be cool. Should be fun. Should be a wild three weeks. I’m signing off of here, because Butch and Mark they know the drill. Chomp, chomp. Go Braves.

Nick:                         You stay classy, Gator Country.

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.