Clemson Tigers commit still hearing from the Florida Gators

The Florida Gators are in desperate of linebackers in the class of 2016 and on Monday defensive coordinator Geoff Collins stopped by to visit one of the top linebackers for this year.

Clemson Tigers linebacker commit Tre Lamar (6-3, 240, Roswell, GA High) was one of the Florida Gators top targets before he committed to Clemson this summer, but Collins and company aren’t giving up.

“Coach Collins visited me on Monday at my practice,” Lamar said. “He couldn’t talk to me but he talked to my head coach about me some and just watched me work out. It was a good to see him.”

Collins has been in constant contact with Lamar this fall and he continues to remind the Clemson commit that Florida has early playing time available for linebackers.

“Florida is still recruiting me pretty hard, Coach Collins is usually the coach that I talk too,” he said. “Coach Collins usually just tells me about the depth chart and their need for linebackers down there right now. He said that it would be a good fit for me down there.”

While Lamar remains solid to Clemson, he also admits that the Gators’ situation at linebacker is appealing to him.

“I think it’s a good situation for me with the depth chart,” Lamar said. “I’m definitely listening to what Coach Collins says to me and I actually watched them play LSU on TV. The defense played pretty good this year but they only had three linebackers able to play.”

One other thing that Lamar likes about Florida is that linebackers coach Randy Shannon is a seasoned veteran at coaching the position.

“Coach Shannon is a great coach and he did good at Miami,” Lamar said. “He definitely knows what he’s doing and he’s a great developer of players at the linebacker position.”

Clemson’s coach Dabo Swinney tries to persuade his commits not to take visits and that has Lamar debating on whether he will visit Gainesville or not.
“I haven’t made a decision on if I will make any other visits besides Clemson yet, so I’m not sure if I will visit them or not,” Lamar said of potential visits. “I’m early enrolling so I will have to make a decision pretty quick on whether or not I will visit them or not.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Lamar said that Florida and Auburn are both trying to get visits from him but that he will have to sit down with his family and make a decision as to whether or not he will visit them or not. If Florida is able to get him down on a visit that would be huge for them as Lamar is a big time playmaker at a position of need for the Florida Gators.

 

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.