The Florida Gators had several big targets in the south endzone on Saturday to watch the Gators beat LSU.
One of those targets was offensive lineman Deyavie Hammond (6-3, 353, Lakeland, FL. High) who enjoyed his first game in the Swamp.
“I loved the atmosphere,” Hammond said. “For it to be my first game at the University of Florida it was great, I loved it. I just love the atmosphere, like I said this was my first time ever coming up here, it was great. I will definitely be back.”
Hammond felt the love from everyone on campus on Saturday as he enjoyed the atmosphere.
“It was definitely a lot of love, it was very welcoming,” he said of the atmosphere. “It was probably the most welcoming place I’ve been actually. I love the fans, the coaches and the players. It’s great up here.”
The Lakeland offensive lineman paid close attention to the offensive line on Saturday and he likes the improvement they’ve made this year.
“I think that they did really well,” Hammond said of the offensive line. “At the beginning of the game it seemed slow but towards the end they definitely held up. I really didn’t expect that actually, from last week to this week, I mean there’s definitely been a lot of improvement.”
Area recruiter and tight ends coach Larry Scott has been the main coach recruiting Hammond this year and he had a message for the lineman on Saturday.
“He was like, he wants me up here bad,” he said on the message from Larry Scott. “He knows how Lakeland works and he loves our program because Lakeland and Florida kind of like a co program. He just loves Lakeland players.”
After Saturday’s visit to Gainesville, Hammond has an idea of when he will take his official visit to Florida and other schools.
“Actually I was thinking about a Florida visit in January,” Hammond said on a potential official visit to Florida. “December was going to be LSU probably. FSU will probably be in January after the season.”
The Gators aren’t the only school recruiting Hammond hard as two SEC schools and the Gators key rival are also after the lineman.
“Florida State, LSU, Florida and recently Mississippi State texted me,” he said on schools recruiting him hard. “I can definitely say that the two Florida schools, Florida and Florida State, I love both of them.”
Hammond admits that he’s paying close attention to how both the Gators and Seminoles do this year but he wants to see the whole year before he separates them in his recruitment.
“Right now the season is looking pretty rough for Florida State and Florida is looking pretty great right now,” Hammond said on what one school can do to separate themselves. “But I kind of want to see how they match up against each other right now.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Hammond said he doesn’t have any other unofficial visits planned but he wants to get back up to Florida. Hammond doesn’t know of a timeline to make a decision right now.