Perine spends time recruiting for the Florida Gators

One of the longest committed prospects in the class of 2016 for the Florida Gators is running back Lamical Perine (6-0, 216, Theodore, AL High) and he took his official visit over the weekend.

Perine, who has taken several visits to Florida, was joined by his family over the weekend and they were able to see everything the Gators had to offer.

“Everything just went well during the visit,” Perine said. “My mom and family had a good time, we were able to see all of the facilities including the dorm rooms this time. Florida is home for me and I was able to ask a lot of questions and have fun.”

Head coach Jim McElwain has been talking to Perine a good bit as of late and the two had a good conversation over the weekend.

“Coach Mac was just telling me that he was happy for me to be in the family,” he said. “He said he can’t wait for me to be in the Orange and Blue and that he’s excited for me to play running back for them. I’m excited.”

McElwain and the rest of the coaching staff had one strong message for the running back about next season for the Florida Gators.

“They told me to finish high school strong and come in and be ready to work,” Perine said. “They said that I have to come in and learn the plays so that I can be ready to play as a freshman.”

Running backs coach Tim Skipper has been the lead guy in Perine’s recruitment and he shared a message about the running back’s mindset with Perine.

“Coach Skipper just said to come in ready to grind and not come in complacent,” he said. “He said to come in and be ready to work hard because he thinks that I can be a big help in the backfield.”

Perine and Skipper have become very close over the recruiting period, and the Theodore running back had high praise for the running back coach.

“Coach Skipper and I have built a great relationship, we’ve known each other for almost a year now,” Perine said. “Everything is just going smooth, he’s a good man that’s always keeping it real with me. I do the same with him.”

Over the weekend Perine was hosted by two Florida Gators running backs and everything went smooth according to the running back.

“Jordan Scarlett was my host and I was around Jordan Cronkrite too; they’re cool people,” he said. “I have a built a good relationship with those guys and I’m sure it will get even tighter over the next few years when we are competing against each other.”

Since Perine has been solid commit for months now, he was able to help the Gators recruit others during the official visit.

“I was recruiting Kristian Fulton and Tyrie Cleveland,” Perine said. “The rest of the guys are already committed so we were working on those guys and I’m pretty sure they had a good time. I was telling those guys to come join the new era of Florida football. We have good things ahead of us.”

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.