The Florida Gators recruiting class picked up its 15th member of the class on Friday when defensive tackle Fred Hansard (6-3, 324, Princeton, NJ. Hun School) committed to Florida with a Bleacher Report video.
“Go Gators,” Hansard said when picking his school on Friday.
The New Jersey native picked the Gators over Rutgers, Tennessee and 32 other scholarship offers.
Hansard made his first and only visit to Gainesville for Friday Night Lights and told GatorCountry that the visit was a good one.
“I really loved everything about it,” Hansard said of the visit. “The coaches, the players, the commits and the university. The way I felt comfortable there stuck out to me.”
Since early spring Hansard has been a top target for the Gators and defensive line coach Chris Rumph.
Rumph visited Hansard twice this spring and his school and the two have developed quite the relationship.
“I love Coach Rumph and what he brings to the table,” he said of Rumph. “For sure what I’m looking for in my future coach and he tells me that he needs me. He says he wants me to join the family.”
Hansard joins defensive tackles Jordon Scott and JUCO defensive tackle Javier Edwards as members of the class at the position.
The Gators are trying to sign three to four at the position after Thomas Holley and Andrew Ivie both were medically redshirted this fall.
Last season Hansard had 32 tackles, 12 tackles for a loss and three sacks despite missing three games due to injury. Hansard also played left tackle for his high school team and that earned him first team all-area by the Times of Trenton newspaper.
STAY TUNED TO GATORCOUNTRY.COM FOR MUCH MORE ON HANSARD’S COMMITMENT.
I don’t think there’s any doubt now that we have turned the corner on recruiting. We are now pulling defensive players that Muschamp would have killed for. And despite what others might say, that was a concern in the back of the minds of many people when Muschamp was fired and ended up at USC – our ability to recruit on defense with an HC know for offense, and further, competing for recruits against defensive-minded coaches like Muschamp, Smart, etc. The beauty is that not only are we recruiting at a higher level defensively, but we are not doing so at the expense of offense. Quite the contrary actually, perhaps with the exception of the OL, which quite frankly baffles me…