Valentine has a “oh wow” moment over Florida Gators offer

Despite starting spring practice last week, the Florida Gators have still been handing out a lot of offers in recruiting lately as they fill up their board for 2018 and 2019.

On Friday, running back Lavonte Valentine (6-2, 190, Melbourne, FL. Central Catholic) was on the receiving end of an offer from running backs coach JaJuan Seider.

“Coach Seider was the coach that offered me,” Valentine said. “He said he walked into the meeting room and all of the coaches were watching my film and they liked it. He had been telling me that they were going to offer me when I came up there but I had taken a nap and woke up and my recruiting coordinator told me that they went ahead and offered me.”

Valentine had a busy week, picking up seven offers but the Gators offer was a big one for him.

“My reaction was ‘oh wow’,” he said of what he thought when he got the offered. “It’s crazy, I’m just imagining myself playing in the Swamp, that’s a great atmosphere. I’ve been to a Gators game before and it’s totally different than any other college game. It’s very loud and they’re a really interesting school.”

The running back isn’t just a football player and he wants to continue to have a busy schedule in college and Seider approves of those plans.

“I told him that I was interested in the medical program and I know Florida has a great medical program,” Valentine said. “I also told him that I want to run track so he was telling me that Florida would let me do all three if I came there.”

When talking football, Seider explained to Valentine how he can be different for the Gators if he chooses Florida.

“He said that I had great size on me and can move well and that he likes my speed,” he said on what Seider told him. “He told me that he’s very interested in me and that he needs a guy with my speed up there. He was telling me that my film looks like I’m running a track meet.”

The two parties have only been talking for a few days now but Valentine has been impressed by Seider so far.

“Coach Seider is a great coach,” Valentine said on his impressions of Seider. “We’ve been talking four days now and I’ve grown to like him and he’s very open with me. I can talk to him about anything I want to even stuff outside of football.”

Now that Valentine has an offer from the Gators, the running back is now planning on visiting Gainesville.

“I’m going to go up there not this week but next week,” he said on when he plans to visit. “I just have to tell them the day and time that I’m going to come up there with my parents. I haven’t visited the campus yet so I want to get to know the campus really.”

With Valentine’s recruitment just now heating up the running back is keeping everything open but he knows four schools he likes.

“I definitely like UF, Tennessee, Oregon and USC,” Valentine said. “I’m going to wait a little bit and see what else comes next.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Valentine just ran a 10.4 in the 100 meters and is a prospect that’s grabbing offers left and right. Valentine definitely likes Florida a lot and Seider has impressed him early on.

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.