Florida moves up for Kelly

A week after landing five star offensive lineman David Sharpe, the Florida Gators played host to Derrick Kelly (6-5, 268, Havana, FL East Gadsden), a visit that went well enough that the highly recruited O-lineman now has the Gators at the top of his list.

“It went good and I had a really good time,” Kelly said. “After this visit Florida is definitely at the top of the list with Florida State and LSU.”

Kelly, like most official visitors, arrived on Saturday morning and was treated to a top notch dinner on Saturday night.

“I arrived at Florida on Saturday and got to go to the banquet,” Kelly said. “It was good and I got to see how a college banquet is run. It was good food too. We had steak, pasta and some kind of chicken but the best thing there was the chocolate cake they had.”

For Kelly this weekend was all about learning more about Florida and meeting everyone and he got to do that and more.

“I got to learn a lot more about the academics this weekend,” Kelly said. “I got to talk to the coaches more and talk to coach (Will) Muschamp more. Coach Muschamp is a very family oriented guy and he told me by the first of the January he should be announcing his new coaches at Florida.”

Academics stand out for Kelly who wants to pursue a criminology degree. During his visit he discovered that Florida has a top notch degree program in criminology.

“I really like the academics at Florida too,” Kelly said. “They told me there criminology department is 12th ranked in the nation so that was good to know. Academics are very important to me so to know that stuff is good to know.”

As the visit ended for Kelly he had one last chance to sit down with Will Muschamp who wanted to make sure he had a good time.

“Coach Muschamp just asked me how the visit went and did I get all of my questions answered,” Kelly said. “Coach told me that they only have a few linemen returning and a few coming in next year so I have the opportunity to play early next year at left tackle.”

Kelly said he may come back to Florida for an unofficial visit once the Gators hire the new coaches.

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.