Moore names the Florida Gators his leader

The Florida Gators are in desperate need of defensive linemen as they didn’t hit their needs during the early signing period in December.

This weekend the Florida Gators hosted defensive lineman Charles Moore (6-4, 268, Louisville, MS. High) on campus for an official visit and he enjoyed everything Gainesville had to offer.

“It was awesome,” Moore said of his visit to Florida this weekend. “I liked being around the coaching staff, they seem like pretty genuine people, I like Coach Sal [Sunseri] a lot, he’s so real, he doesn’t sugar coat it, he kept it real with me. He coaches me, he teaches me different things and he cares about me outside of football.”

Moore who says coaches can leave at anytime and tries not to focus on the coaches as much as the school says that Florida has everything he wants in a school.

“Even if he [Sal] wasn’t here, the school is just set up for me to succeed,” he said on what he likes about Florida. “Outside of football, job opportunity wise with the connections I’m going to make, just their brand, the Gator brand is big.”

Heading into the visit Moore had the Gators outside of his top three but he now says Florida is in the drivers seat for several reasons.

“Florida is my leader,” Moore said of Florida. “I came up and seen the campus and talked to the academic advisor and just listened to some of the stuff they had to say and it fit me well as a person being that I’m more focused on me off the field as a person. My football window is small but I still have my whole life to live. So I can focus on that and they hit all those points very well. The connections outside of football, doing internships during the summer in the field I will choose is big.”

Moore believes in what Dan Mullen and the coaching staff is doing in Gainesville and the players at Florida welcomed him with open arms.

“They’re doing something big, football wise, I bond with the players really well,” he said of his relationship with the players. “This is the first visit that I’ve been on that I’ve bonded with the players that well. Like Kyree [Campbell] and TJ [Slaton], those guys are real cool. I’m actually cooler with those guys than I’m with some of the guys from Mississippi.”

Mullen and the rest of the coaching staff also talked to Moore about how he fits into the defense and how big of a need he is to the Gators.

“I think fit really well,” he said on how he thinks he fits into the defense at Florida. “Especially with me coming in and the guys they have, I kind of fit their playing style and with me coming in, there’s not a lot of depth at the interior defensive line position so there will be a lot of opportunity for me to learn and play some too.”

Defensive line coach Sal Sunseri and Mullen also didn’t pressure Moore into making a decision but wanted him to be sure of the school he chooses.

“Kind of like if they feel like I fit here then I should be here,” Moore said on the coaches message to him. “But still go take my visits and pray about it and make sure this is the right decision for me. They say this is a lifetime decision for me.”

What Florida did was help Moore realize he can accomplish his after football dreams in Gainesville as the defensive lineman already knows what he wants to do after his playing days are over.

“My plans after football is I want to major in sports management,” Moore said on plans after football. “Just in case I didn’t make it to the NFL, I was going to fall back on coaching. But I actually don’t want to work for anyone, I want to be self employed so I’m going to minor in business management because I want to buy a lot of land and invest in cattle, chicken houses and I want to own my own 18-wheeler company. I want to get into house real estate too.”

Next up for Moore could be trips to several different schools but the defensive lineman hasn’t officially set any of them up yet.

“I don’t have any actually locked down and planned,” he said of visits coming. “In my mind, I’m planning LSU, Tennessee and Mississippi State or Florida State.”

When Moore goes on those visits, he will be comparing those schools to Florida as he said the Gators impressed him a lot this weekend.

“They don’t have to do anything now,” Moore said on what Florida needs to do in order to stay the leader. “What they presented, I didn’t even have to ask too many questions, they answered the questions before I could even ask the question. I got a good vibe from them.”

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.

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