Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but the Florida Gators recruiting class needs linebackers in it once again.
On Saturday the Gators offered another linebacker prospect in James Houston (6-1, 220, Plantation, FL American Heritage) who heard the news from Randy Shannon.
“I picked up the Florida offer on Saturday from Coach Shannon,” Houston said. “He was just telling me about his background of coaching players. He told me a lot of stories about the players he coached. He was just trying to let me know that Florida was the best choice for me.”
Shannon made sure to let Houston know that the Gators need linebackers in the class because of Florida losing some seniors.
“He told me that they have four seniors that will be leaving this year so they need linebackers,” he said. “He told me that they have three freshmen but that they still need more linebackers.”
When the two parties spoke Shannon informed Houston that he was an inside linebacker and that meant a lot to the linebacker to hear that from a legend in Shannon.
“Coach Shannon told me that I will probably be playing the Mike or the Will position,” Houston said. “That would be good for me because I like Coach Shannon. I know that he coached at Miami and coached the great linebackers. He’s one of the best linebacker coaches.”
Over the last few weeks Houston has picked up offers from the likes of Alabama and LSU and the linebacker is in no rush to make a decision.
“I’m trying to sit back right now and wait until the spring to start doing my evaluations on the schools,” he said. “This spring I plan to start going around to some of the schools to try and get a feel for them. Florida is one of the schools that I want to visit.”
Houston hasn’t visited Gainesville yet but he does know a few things about the Florida Gators program.
“I know that Florida is UF, I grew up in South Florida so I know a lot about UF,” Houston said. “Their defense is great and they have DBU you up there. My teammate Marco Wilson’s brother is up there with all of the players.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Houston seems wide open up in the process but did speak very highly on linebackers coach Randy Shannon. Houston is a prospect that is on the rise this winter as he’s picked up several big offers.