The Gators coaching staff hit the road for the first time in the evaluation period on Monday when defensive line coach Brad Lawing visited defensive end Marquavius Lewis (6-4, 270, Hutchinson, KS Hutchinson Community College) at his school.
“It was pretty good, it was a short visit,” Lewis said. “He was mainly talking to my coach about me. Coach Lawing told him that he wanted to introduce himself to everybody because this was his first time at my school. After that he came out and watched our spring practice. Hopefully I left a good impression on him.”
When practice was over Lewis gave Lawing a call to talk to continue talking with Lawing and the coach had a message for the JUCO defensive end.
“I actually called him after practice to talk to him a little bit more,” Lewis said. “He was really straight forward with me and said that a lot of coaches tell you what they are going to do for you but that all he wants to do is coach me. He was just real straight forward with me and told me what he could with me as a player.”
Lewis knows Lawing’s background and the players he’s coached, so to hear Lawing say he would fit into the Gators defense meant a lot to the defensive end.
“Coach Lawing said that I fit in well into their defense and that they run an NFL style defense,” Lewis said. “He said that I’m good pass rusher and that he wants to stick me on the end and let me do my thing. Coach Lawing said that they really need pass rushers in this class.”
The JUCO defensive end now has over a dozen offers and while he doesn’t think that any particular school is recruiting him more than another he does say that Florida is recruiting him as hard as any other school.
“I talk to Florida a lot on the phone and on social media,” Lewis said. “I mainly just talk to Coach Lawing but I have talked to a few other Florida coaches so far. Florida is one of the few schools that are recruiting me hard. I talk to a few other schools a lot as well.”