The Florida Gators received bad news last week when kicker Eddy Pineiro decided to go pro but the Gators signed one of the nations best kickers to replace Pineiro on December 20th.
Evan McPherson (6-0, 165, Fort Payne, FL. High) is an Under Armour All-American and he feels relieved to have things behind him.
“It feels really good,” McPherson said on being done with the process. “It feels really good to get it finalized and everything.
McPherson received an offer from Dan Mullen after he got the job and he knew pretty quickly after that he was flipping from Mississippi State from Florida.
“Whenever I got the offer I didn’t know that I was going to flip,” he said on when he knew he was flipping. “I thought about it more and more and then Mullen scheduled the visit with me, the in-home visit that’s really what set it over. Then when I went on the official I loved everything.”
The Under Armour All-American was personally recruited by Mullen and the Gators head coach explain why that was the case.
“It is special that he pays so much attention to me as he does,” McPherson said of Mullen recruiting him. “But he says that he used to recruit kickers and he says he just recruits the best.”
McPherson doesn’t know who the Gators will hire as special teams coach but he does know one guy that Mullen likes that was on the old staff.
“He’s high on Coach [Keith] Murphy,” he said. “He likes him and knows he does a good job. I’m pretty sure Coach Murphy will get the job.”
Now that Pineiro has decided to leave school early, Mullen has told McPherson to be ready.
“He just told me to be ready,” McPherson said of Mullen’s message. ”He said that it’s my job to lose.”
McPherson isn’t early enrolling at Florida but he’s ready to compete once he arrives in Gainesville.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to come in and start as a freshman,” he said on the opportunity to play early. “There’s some guys there that have had experience like Tommy (Townsend), obviously he’s not a kicker but he’s had experience. I think it’s a big opportunity for me.”
Despite being the kicker, McPherson says he has someone he’s planning on recruiting to Florida this week.
“I know Coach Mullen is high on Justin Ross, the receiver,” McPherson said. “He’s high on him. I don’t really know any other ones.”
INSIDERS TAKE: McPherson says that he has a 70-yard field goal in his career and that he’s eager to get on campus.