This past weekend the Florida Gators hosted several offensive line targets on campus, and they received good news from one of those visitors on Monday.
Offensive lineman Mike Williams (6-6, 325, Baltimore, MD. Charles Herbert Flowers) committed to Florida following a weekend in Gainesville.
Williams who lives in Maryland has family in the state of Florida and likes the offensive line coaches in Gainesville.
“Why not Florida, my parents live in Orlando, I live with my godmother,” Williams said. “The two offensive line coaches got me, not a lot of coaches do that. Coach [Rob] Sale and Coach [Darnell] Stapleton, Coach Sale has a great background, Coach Stapleton has a great background coming from the Steelers. Coach Napier also has a well-rounded background.”
The offensive lineman who was once committed to South Carolina says the Gators assistant coaches played a big role in his decision.
“Out of all the visits that I’ve taken, this is the best visit I have ever had,” Williams said of his official visit to Florida. “Coach Sale and Coach Stapleton aren’t used car salesman, they’re great guys. Two offensive line coaches, I love that and working like that is, that’s a beautiful scheme. When they’re gone, they even have two offensive line coaches that can develop you. They’re really into developing you and they break down how they’re going to develop you for the coming years.”
Sale and Stapleton watched film with Williams this past weekend and showed him how he fits into the program.
“They broke down my film did some comparison, did some comparisons to some tackles that I’m compared too,” he said on the message from the coaches. “They said I’m a really lengthy guy, I’m not really wide like a guard. I’m 6-7, 310, I have big hips. So they said if I come here, I’m going to play tackle.”
Williams likes the way Billy Napier and the Gators’ offense runs and the lineman believes in the plan at Florida.
“The plan starts with the offensive line coaches, they have two offensive line coaches,” Williams said. “The offensive scheme is great; they do 50/50 run and pass. It’s great when you go into the draft, it’s not like how Tennessee’s offense is. You aren’t going to get drafted like that.”
Last weekend was the first time for Williams to meet everyone and he liked the honesty from the Gators.
“I could see they were genuine; I could see it in their face, they were real about it,” he said on his impressions of Sale and Stapleton. “They could see me in their program being a future starter and All-American going to the league.”
Williams says he has already planned a return trip to Gainesville to help recruit others.
“July 29th for the cookout,” Williams said on if he plans to return to Florida.
The lineman is the eighth commitment in the Class of 2024 and Williams is the first offensive lineman in the class.