Last Saturday several underclassmen from out of state made visits to Gainesville for the Florida Gators junior day and to watch spring practice.
2021 linebacker Jayden Truesdale (6-0, 225, Virginia Beach, VA. Princess Anne) was on campus for the first time on Saturday and got to do a lot of things while in Gainesville.
“The visit was great,” Truesdale said of his visit to Florida on Saturday. “I got to meet with coach Dan Mullen himself with two other recruits Tony Grimes and Katron Evans, which we all rode up to Gainesville together from Virginia Beach. We got to suit up, take pictures and tour the facilities.”
While on campus, Truesdale also picked up an offer from the Florida Gators and he heard the news from the head coach himself.
“Me and the recruits privately talked to Coach Dan Mullen with our coach in his office,” he said on how he learned of his Florida offer. “Dan Mullen said ‘y’all would make a great fit for Gainesville,’ and then he offered me by saying you have an offer to play in Gainesville.”
The offer was a special one to Truesdale as it was his first offer but the 2021 linebacker also likes several things about the Gators.
“Words can’t even explain, I’m truly blessed,” Truesdale said on what the offer means to him. “Getting my first offer is huge especially from Florida because it’s an SEC school, which is one of the toughest conferences in football. They have a great coaching staff, great academics and of course a great football program.”
Defensive backs coach Torrian Gray is a big reason that Truesdale and his teammates visited Gainesville and he had a message for the linebacker on Saturday.
“We talked with Coach Gray in his office,” Truesdale said of the other coaches he talked too. “He just said he was happy that we all came down and he can’t wait to have us back down in Gainesville again.”
Truesdale is very familiar with Gray and knows a lot about his history of coaching and knows that Gray understands the area from where the 2021 linebacker is from.
“I know a lot about him, he played at Virginia Tech and coached at Tech,” he said on what he knows about Gray. “He’s a great recruiter and he was also born two hours away from Florida. It helps me a lot because he knows that the 757 has a lot of talent based off experience.”