The Florida Gators defense is losing several key pieces to the NFL this year and the coaching staff is looking to reload with more depth at several positions in the class of 2017.
One of those positions is defensive tackle and the Gators are set to host Maryland defensive tackle commit Breyon Gaddy (6-5, 335, Virginia Beach, VA. Bishop Sullivan Catholic) and his brother Brandon later this month on an official visit.
“I’m talking to them a lot and I set up an official visit to them for the 27th,” Gaddy said. “My brother and I will be taking the official visit together, it will be our first time down there.”
Gaddy who was committed to Tennessee for awhile has long been a key target for the Gators and defensive line coach Chris Rumph has remained in contact with the brothers.
“I talk to them like three times a week or sometimes more than that,” he said of his talks with Florida. “I talk to Coach Rumph the most, we’re just trying to build that relationship and get to know each other. He has stuck with me throughout the whole process so I feel like he really wants me.”
Rumph has stressed to Gaddy that the Gators are desperate need of defensive tackles in this class and that early playing is available.
“Coach Rumph tells me that they really don’t have that many defensive tackles so they need guys,” Gaddy said. “He said that if I come in and work hard that I could go into the rotation with the guys that they have already down there. He said that I could play nose tackle or the three technique depending on the front they run.”
The Gaddy brothers have never visited Gainesville before but Breyon says he knows a few things about the Gators.
“I like Florida, I feel like they’re a school that I’m willing to go to,” Gaddy said of his interest in Florida. “I got to watch them play against Tennessee and noticed that they always are sending their defensive lineman to the league. That’s a plus for me. I like what I know about them.”
When Gaddy does visit Gainesville in January he says he knows exactly what he’s looking to see during the official visit.
“I’m wanting to see how the players act with the coaches and how the players welcome in new guys,” he said on what he’s looking forward to seeing during his official visit. “I want to see if there’s a real team bond there and just see how things are around the campus.”
If the Gators want to flip Gaddy from Maryland, the defensive tackle says that they will have to show him the same feel that the Terps did in December.
“With Maryland, it just felt like a family down there and the atmosphere was great so I’m looking for that when I go down to Florida,” Gaddy said on what it will take for a team to flip him. “I want to see if Florida has that same home feeling and see if the atmosphere is welcoming like Maryland was.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Gaddy says he would like to make a final decision after his Florida official visit and says that Florida might be his only official visit of the month. The defensive tackle also expects Rumph to visit him after the dead period ends on Monday.