Florida Gators offer Tennessee JUCO DL commit

The Florida Gators offered several prospects last week including a few guys that are committed to other schools.

One of those guys was Tennessee JUCO defensive tackle Darel Middleton (6-7, 290, Oak Ridge, TN. High) who got the news from Florida on Friday.

“Coach O [Otis Yelverton] offered me,” Middleton said of the coach who offered him from Florida. “He said they really like my game. He said they haven’t saw much college film but know I can ball and they want me.”

Middleton who had to go the JUCO route out of high school is happy to receive another opportunity to continue his playing career.

“It means I can still play in a power 5 conference even with all of the adversity that I’ve been through,” he said of what the offer means to him. “I just want to thank the man above for it and the University of Florida coaching staff for recognizing my talent.”

The Tennessee commit is expected to speak with the rest of the Florida coaching staff in the coming days after he picked up the offer.

“I’m supposed to talk to them after this weekend,” he said of talking to the other coaches. “Everyone is out of the office for the holiday but after they get back then I’m going to talk to them.”

When the Gators offered him last week, the Florida assistant had a short message about where the Gators like him at on defense.

“They like me at defensive end,” Middleton said. “Coach O said that they like me there so that I can just get after the quarterback. He didn’t really get into to much because he’s at home visiting his family. He told me he loves my game and he wants to get up on a visit.”

Middleton hasn’t set up any visits yet but he does know one visit he wants to take and when he wants to make a final decision.

“I don’t know as of now but I plan to visit,” he said of visiting Florida. “I plan to make a final decision in December after the junior college national championship game.”

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.