The Gators are playing host to hundreds of prospects for Will Muschamp’s summer football camps. On Thursday one of the top visitors didn’t camp but just strictly came to tour the school and meet the coaches.
That prospect was offensive lineman Michael Howard (6-6, 255, Green Cove Springs, FL Clay) who got to talk two of the Gators coaches.
“It was good, nice visit for me,” Howard said. “I got to tour the facilities and talk to Coach [Mike] Summers, Coach [Will] Muschamp and a couple others. They were doing camp but I didn’t participate, I just watched a little bit and then took the tour.”
Offensive line coach Mike Summers was busy with the camp but he took a few minutes out to talk offensive line play with Howard.
“Coach Summers was just talking to some offensive line play with me,” Howard said. “We didn’t have a long conversation but he was just telling me some things about Florida and about the game of football.”
Before Howard got the chance to talk to Summers he was met by the head man himself who had a quick conversation with the offensive lineman.
“Coach Muschamp was the first coach to come up and greet me during camp,” Howard said. “He had a quick conversation with me about Florida and wanting me to be there but he said that he had to get back to camp so we didn’t get to go into much detail.”
Howard has taken visits to UCF and a few other school in the southeast this summer and he says that Florida showed him a good time on Thursday.
“Florida is a really nice place and it was a great visit and a great time,” Howard said. “I’ve been to a few different places this summer and Florida was right up there with them. The facilities and the locker room at Florida are nice.”
With 24 offers now in hand, Howard says that he’s in the process of narrowing his choices. Florida has made the cut into his top-10.
“Florida is up there and in my top 10,” Howard said. “Really, everyone that has offered me is recruiting me the same so I’m just going to have to see how things go.”
INSIDER TAKE: Howard is a prospect that doesn’t like to do interviews, doesn’t show much emotion in his interviews nor does he give away much, so it’s tough to tell how much Howard truly enjoyed his visit on Thursday. Right now Florida has a few prospects ahead of him on the board but the Gators are keeping tabs on Howard moving forward and could turn up the heat on him in the future if they miss on a few guys.
The biggest question for Florida, and really anyone, is whether or not Howard can gain enough weight to play SEC football on the offensive line.