McLendon likes the Florida Gators plan for him on defense

Last weekend the Florida Gators hosted over 20 prospects on campus for the spring scrimmage and that included players from several different states.

Defensive end Derrick McLendon (6-3, 220, Tucker, GA. High) was one of those guys on campus on Saturday as he watched Dan Mullen’s second spring scrimmage at Florida.

“It was a good visit, it was Florida you know,” McLendon said on his visit to Florida on Saturday. “They scrimmaged, Coach Mullen got onto some of their behinds during the scrimmage.”

While on campus, McLendon got the chance to speak at length with defensive coordinator Todd Grantham about Florida’s defense.

“I got to sit down with Coach Todd Grantham and have a good conversation,” he said on the coach he talked to the most. “He spoke about where I would be playing, they run the 3-4 defense so I would play the star position which is basically an outside linebacker.”

Grantham explained to McLendon that the Gators are looking for players at his position because of the depth concern with the move to the 3-4 defense.

“They’re really light on that position, like literally light,” McLendon said on the depth at the star position. “Most of those guys are seniors, two of the guys that start are seniors and one of them is a junior and he said he might go pro. I like the way things look, it’s set up for me to be successful.”

McLendon focused on the star position while watching the Gators scrimmage and while he knows he has some work to do in order to play the spot, the defensive end likes the position.

“I really liked the position, I mean I’m going to have to work on dropping some,” he said on watching the star position during the scrimmage. “Other than that I liked the position because it’s an athletic position and it shows your athleticism. It shows you how physical you’re and you get to show your versatility.”

Grantham and McLendon are no strangers to each other as the two have known each other for a few years now.

“Coach Grantham has been recruiting me since he was at Louisville,” McLendon said on his relationship with Grantham. “He recruited one of our players there and he said that he likes Tucker players a lot and he expressed that. He coached another one of our guys at Georgia.”

Head coach Dan Mullen also spoke with McLendon for a second while on campus on Saturday.

“Coach Mullen he just said he was happy for me to be there,” McLendon said on his conversation with Mullen. “We really didn’t get a chance to talk that much because of the scrimmage.”

This was the first time for McLendon to be on campus under Mullen but the Gators have always been a team on the defensive end’s mind.

“My eyes have always been on Florida because they were my first power 5 offer,” he said on his interest in Florida. “I couldn’t over look that but through the coaching staff change they’ve stayed the same. Nothing has changed from the day they offered me to the coaching change.”

INSIDERS TAKE: McLendon says Florida State is his leader right now but that he wants to return to Florida for another visit. McLendon just dropped his top five schools and says that a decision could come in the coming months for him.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.