Cooley had a great virtual visit with the Florida Gators last week

On Friday the Florida Gators hosted an out of state prospect on a virtual visit as this was his first time to see and meet the Gators coaching staff.

Running back Trevion Cooley (5-10, 200, Knightdale, NC. High) was able to see a lot of things the Gators have to offer during the visit.

“It was a great virtual tour,” Cooley said. “I just talked to the coaches and trainers and people like that to get an idea of how school would be there. I got to see the campus and academic centers.”

Strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage really impressed Cooley during the visit with his presentation.

“I loved the strength and conditioning presentation,” he said on what stood out to him. “The strength coach seemed like a really genuine person who pushes you to become better and sometimes as humans we need someone like that. He was upfront about his goal for the players and their performance on Saturday’s.”

Running backs coach Greg Knox explained to Cooley on Friday how the Gators use their running backs and how he would fit into Florida’s offense.

“He said every back they have is different,” Cooley said of Knox’s message to him. “I’m a student of the game and he knows that but he also loves my vision, speed and tackle breaking ability. They use their backs how I’m used in high school now, with a lot of inside zone, outside zone, power, slot receiver, wide out, so it’s not really many differences.”

Head coach Dan Mullen also explained to Cooley what the future looks like on the Gators campus.

“The first thing we talked about was academics,” he said of Mullen’s message. “He talked about the future renovations and how hopefully I will become a Gator one day.”

Cooley hasn’t yet picked up an offer from Florida but he says he has interest in them for several reasons.

“I’m very interested in Florida,” Cooley said. “I love that there is great academics and football at one school. A lot of schools are great at football more than school and some are better at school than football and I feel like Florida is very balanced.”

The Gators have some competition for Cooley as several other programs are recruiting the running back hard.

“Georgia, Louisville, Utah, Duke, Virginia, Maryland and a few others are recruiting me hard,” he said. “No leaders currently and I’m not sure when I want to make a decision but hopefully before my football season.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Cooley hasn’t been officially offered by Florida and he says the conversation didn’t directly come up during the virtual visit.

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.