Last week, the Florida Gators hosted several underclassmen on campus for spring practice on unofficial visits.
2025 quarterback Austin Simmons (6-2, 180, Pahokee, FL. High) was on campus and enjoying getting to see everything Florida has to offer.
“The visit was amazing,” Simmons said of his visit to Florida last week. “Just taking a tour around the facilities, meeting all the coaches, and talking with Coach [Ryan] O’Hara and Coach [Billy] Napier.”
While on his visit, Simmons met with head coach Billy Napier who gave the quarterback some big news in his recruitment.
“Coach Napier offered me,” he said on the coach who offered him during the visit. “We were having a conversation and he was asking me where I stand in my recruitment and what I can really do for their program and then he just said was offering me after we got done talking.”
Simmons remembers watching the Gators win national championships and that made last week’s offer from Florida a big one.
“The offer means a lot to me, I grew up watching Florida,” Simmons said on what the offer means to him. “I grew up watching all the Florida schools, but Florida was one of those amazing schools, they had Tim Tebow, his passion for the game, I love watching him play. It was memorable watching them play football.”
While on his visit, Simmons had the chance to watch the Gators’ spring practice and he liked the pace of practice.
“I stayed by Coach O’Hara during the whole practice,” he said of Florida’s practice. “I was moving along with him during the practice, seeing how they warm up, they have a six-minute warm-up and then everything they do is just so fast. Everything is getting right to the point and no breaks; they’re trying to create tempo.”
O’Hara and Napier also explained to Simmons last week just how he would fit into Florida’s offense and why he would have a head start with Florida.
“I feel like I would fit great into their offense, we run a similar offense at Pahokee right now,” Simmons said. “The only main difference is going out of pistol at Florida instead of shotgun. At Pahokee, we go in the deep shotgun and under center a lot. Coach O’Hara thinks I can make some noise in their offense because I saw a lot of things at practice that I had already ran at Pahokee.”
Now that Simmons has an offer from Florida, the quarterback hopes to continue to get back to Gainesville and continue to build his relationship with the coaching staff.
“I want to get to know Florida a lot more,” he said. “I want to go to another game, last year I went to the LSU game and that’s why I met Coach O’Hara in person. The first time I met him, I knew we were going to have a strong relationship. I just knew that I could build that relationship.”