It’s a holiday weekend but that didn’t stop the Florida Gators from hosting a pair of visitors on campus on Saturday afternoon.
One of those visitors was defensive tackle Darnell Jeffries (6-4, 271, Covington, GA. Newton) who enjoyed his first visit to Gainesville.
“It was a really nice visit,” Jeffries said of Saturday’s visit. “It’s a beautiful campus and everyone was glad to see me there. The visit was really about meeting with the defensive coaches and watching film. They were letting me know where I fit in the overall defensive plan.”
While on the visit defensive line coach Chris Rumph offered Jeffries a scholarship to attend Florida.
“Coach Rumph is the coach that extended the offer,” he said of defensive line coach Chris Rumph. “It means a great deal to get the offer. It’s my second offer from the state of Florida and I was happy to get it. I’ve known that they were interested in my services for a while but today [Saturday] it just all came together and they offered me.”
Saturday was a chance for Jeffries to meet Rumph and get to know him and the Gators improved their chances with the visit.
“We spent a lot of time together today [Saturday],” Jeffries said of Chris Rumph. “We both felt good about it. The Gators are really a team that I could see myself playing for in the future.”
Jeffries didn’t get the chance to meet the whole coaching staff on Saturday but he plans to change that soon.
“I didn’t get to talk to Coach [Randy] Shannon or Coach [Jim] McElwain,” he said. “Almost everyone is at home for holidays but I plan to talk to them more really soon.”
Most consider Clemson and Alabama as two teams in good shape for Jeffries but the defensive tackle says nobody is out in front right now.
“No leaders right now,” he said. “I have a few more places I want to see before I start naming leaders. But I do like Florida and I really wanted to make that visit.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Jeffries is a really good defensive tackle prospect and he thinks highly of Florida. The defensive tackle also says he wants to visit Florida again and the Gators really need that visit to happen in order to get in better shape.