Idaho prospect blown away by Florida

2015 Pocatello (Id.) Highland offensive lineman Tristen Hoge spent two days at Florida this week and left blown away by the Gators.

“It was awesome, definitely more than I expected,” Hoge said. “It’s a great school. The coaching staff goes above and beyond, the energy the coaches have is great. Every coach has an awesome amount of energy that gets you ready to play a game.”

Academics are a very important factor for the 6-foot-4, 285-pound Hoge. The Gators were sure to show Hoge how good Florida academics are during his visit to Gainesville.

“They showed me pretty much everything they could,” Hoge said. “We went to the academic offices, met with the some of the professors and even watched some of the practices which was pretty awesome. Florida’s academics are great. That campus is really different from what I’ve seen so far. It had the Swamp feeling in the trees and stuff. It was a lot different than I expected, in a good way.

When Hoge went out to practice to watch Florida during fall camp, the one thing that stuck out to him was the speed of the practice.

“I loved the momentum of the practices,” Hoge said. “There are 10 minute segments and five minute segments that are just go, go, go. It’s SEC football speed during practice.”

Florida’s offensive line coach, Tim Davis, also stood out to Hodge on his visit to the Swamp.

“He’s a no non-sense coach,” Hoge said. “I like that he has good energy. He is a true SEC coach he doesn’t tolerate any mistakes. I would definitely like to play under him.”

Hoge was able to sit down with head coach Will Muschamp and offensive line coach Tim Davis, who talked about Hoge’s outstanding character.

“They started by saying that I came from a good family and that I had been raised the right way,” Hoge said. “They like the way I present myself and they liked my film. They say film doesn’t lie. They also liked the way I interacted with the players and just how I handled myself.”

Family is very important to Hoge. During his two day visit to Florida, Hoge had his parents along with him the entire time.

“My parents were blown away they loved it as much as I did,” Hoge said. “They like to travel around with me and they liked it. All three of us are excited to go back for a game.”

Hoge will return to Florida for the Florida State game and will also visit Notre Dame for the BYU game this fall.

At one time the 2015 prospect had thought about making a decision this summer, but now says he wants to take in a game at both Florida and Notre Dame before deciding.

Being from Idaho, some may question whether a guy like Hoge would go across the country for school, but he says that even though Idaho is home, he has no ties there anymore.

“Distance isn’t a factor,” Hoge said. “I don’t really have a lot of ties to Idaho. My parents say they are going to move to wherever I go so they can visit for every game.