The Gators found success in New Orleans last year, signing Gerald Willis. The Florida staff is hoping lightning will strike twice at the same school for 2015, offering Willis’ former teammate, defensive end Isaiah Washington (6-4, 245, New Orleans, LA Edna Karr).
“Coach (Derek) Lewis offered me on Monday night,” Washington said. “He was just telling me that he was offering me a scholarship to come to Florida and that he can’t wait for me to get down to Gainesville and see everything. He said that he wants me because he thinks I can be a very good player for them.”
Washington plans to head to Gainesville soon so that he can meet Lewis and Florida head coach Will Muschamp in person and perhaps see the Gators in action during spring practice.
“I plan to visit Florida at either the end of the month or the beginning of April for a spring practice,” Washington said. “I’m going to bring some of my teammates with me and maybe Gerald (Willis) if he wants to come with me.”
Washington has a complete agenda besides meeting coaches and watching practice when he comes to Gainesville.
“I want to see if I can play early and see how the academics are,” Washington said. “I see what the fan base is like and the facilities and just see if I get that feeling that it’s a great school. I really want to build a better relationship with the coaches and meet the strength and conditioning coaches and even meet the equipment guys because those are the guys that will take care of you in college.”
The Louisiana prep star hasn’t visited Florida before but is already quite familiar with the Gators.
“I know that Florida is a dominant team,” Washington said. “They have three national championship and they put a lot of defensive players in the league. I know they had a bad year last year but I know they are a young team on the move and they have a good defensive line.”
A good defensive line always needs a good coach and Washington has already started developing a relationship with Brad Lawing, who is in charge of Florida’s defensive line.
“I talked to Coach Lawing and he told me that he really wants me to be a Gator too,” Washington said. “He said that he really wants to coach me. That felt very good to hear that from him because he coached (Jadeveon) Clowney and he’s one of the best coaches in college.”
Currently, Washington is committed to LSU but the Gators might have an advantage because of the close friendship with Willis.
“Me and Gerald, we are cool and he’s like my big brother,” Washington said. “He really helped me improve over the years as a football player. It would be cool to play with him in college but you never know.”
Right now Washington still says he’s solid to LSU but he’s also keeping an eye out on other schools who could present earlier playing time to him.
“I’m solid to LSU right now but I’m still looking at other schools,” Washington said. “I’m not going to close my eyes on other schools because there could be a better opportunity out there for me.”