Florida tries to flip Missouri commitment

The Gators are hosting nine official visitors in Gainesville this weekend, one of them Rocel McWilliams (6-3, 240, Pensacola, FL West Florida Tech), a Missouri commitment who says the Gators began talking to him just before Christmas.

“I’m actually heading down to Gainesville right now with my family for my official,” McWilliams said. “Florida has been showing a lot interest in me and they offered me last month and wanted me to come down for a visit.”

Florida head coach Will Muschamp has taken the lead in McWilliams recruitment and he has been telling McWilliams that he’s a player the Gators want.

“Coach Muschamp has been telling me that they are looking for another defensive end in this class,” McWilliams said. “He said they want me to come and develop and get early playing time next year at the BUCK position.”

McWilliams has never visited Florida so this weekend he has a lot of things to see and a lot of questions to ask the coaches.

“I just want to see how they run the program and how the coaches and players are,” McWilliams said. “I want to see the academic side of things as well. I just really want to see everything about Florida and meet everyone.”

With less than three weeks until signing day the Missouri commit doesn’t know what it will take to get him away from the Tigers but there is one thing that could play a major factor.

“I really don’t know right now,” McWilliams said of what it would take to flip him.“Being close to home is definitely a factor in my decision. It would be nice to play in front of my family.”

McWilliams says he grew up a Miami fan but does know the history of Florida and he’s very familiar with Pensacola native Emmitt Smith.

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.

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