The south end zone was slammed full of prospects visiting the Florida Gators on Saturday night to watch the Gators defeat the Kentucky Wildcats and they were treated to a three overtime thriller at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Cornerback Jeremy McDuffie (5-11, 169, Snellville, GA, Shiloh) was one of those prospects in attendance and he walked away calling the Florida Gators in top team.
“Florida is definitely my leader but I’m still interested in Tennessee and Ole Miss,” McDuffie said. “They have all have great programs but for me right now I’m just looking at Florida being my top school.”
Heading into the visit on Saturday the Florida Gators were considered to be his top school and Saturday definitely helped as McDuffie saw a good game.
“The visit was good, it was nice,” McDuffie said. “It was a good game and they played really hard but the defense needs to step up. They had some plays that got away from them but the offense did really good. It was kind of opposite because usually the defense does really good.”
Watching the game from the end zone McDuffie was able to experience the crowd noise like the players do and he walked away impressed by the environment including how much fans noticed him.
“I was in front of the crowd and they were getting rowdy,” McDuffie said. “It was loud in there and when I went to the concession stand some of the fans were chanting ‘McDuffie come here.” It was a nice environment for the game though and just intense.”
During the game McDuffie payed close attention to the defense and in particular to the defensive backs as he’s projected to be a cornerback at the next level.
“The cornerbacks played pretty good, I know [Brian] Poole played alright but Vernon [Hargreaves] just locked down his side,” McDuffie said. “They have a lot of freshmen and young guys that are going to get better like Jalen Tabor and Duke Dawson when they get a little more experience.”
After the game was over the recruits filed into the locker room and McDuffie went into Will Muschamp’s office to talk to the head man.
“I got to go in Coach Muschamp’s office after the game and have a conversation with him about recruiting,” McDuffie said. “He was telling me that he wants me to be a Gator and that he was glad to have me down there again so that he could talk to me. He was just asking me different questions.”
Before the game even started McDuffie was met by defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson who chatted with the Georgia cornerback.
“I got to talk to Coach T-Rob during warm-ups and my dad got to talk to him after the game,” McDuffie said. “Coach T-Rob was saying that he really needs me down there and that he wants me. He said that he needs me to come make some plays for him.”
The Florida Gators will be on the road the next games but once they return to Gainesville for the LSU game McDuffie plans to meet them at the Swamp again.
“I’m going to take an official visit to Florida for the LSU game,” McDuffie said. “I’m also trying to visit Ole Miss and Tennessee too. I wanted to schedule my official for the LSU game because two of my track friends are visiting for that game.”
McDuffie is a track star and has expressed his interest in running track in college and the Florida Gators track program has showed interest in the cornerback.
“The track coach at Florida has talked to me a bunch of times about coming down and running for them,” McDuffie said. “I know they want me at track and Coach Muschamp said that he wants me to do both. I’m going to definitely talk to them more on my official visit.”
So with Florida leading and McDuffie seeing everything he needs to see when will the cornerback make a decision?
“Probably soon,” he said.
INSIDERS TAKE: McDuffie is a good athlete and someone that will be able to play corner for Muschamp and be a threat as a kick returner for the Gators. I believe that Florida is by far the team to beat and I think a good official visit on October 11th could possibly seal the deal. Track is a huge reason for Florida’s lead and having the track staff recruiting him helps a lot.