Zipperer felt at home with the Florida Gators

During the early signing period, the Florida Gators made a big splash by landing the trio of prospects from Lakeland High School on signing day and two of those guys are participating in the Under Armour All-American game this week.

Tight end signee Keon Zipperer (6-2, 240, Lakeland, FL. High) is one of those guys playing in the game and he broke down why he signed with the Gators earlier this month.

“I mean, it really felt like home,” Zipperer said on why he signed with Florida. “At one point in my recruitment, I was feeling Miami, like 100 percent. But when I took my official to Miami, something didn’t feel right and the week before I took my Florida official and everything went great. What else sold them was the players, I mean the coaches recruited me but the players recruited me the hardest. I mean I’m hearing from all the big time players everyday. I’m talking to them more than I’m talking to the coaches.”

Zipperer built a good relationship with head coach Dan Mullen and the tight end says without Mullen, Florida might not have landed him.

“It was real big, I wasn’t really feeling Florida’s old coaching staff,” he said on how important Mullen was to him signing with Florida. “But when Coach Mullen came, I was the first person he called on the phone and that felt real big. I talked to his wife the same night.”

Tight ends coach Larry Scott has told Zipperer just how the Gators plan to use him once he gets to Gainesville this summer.

“They just really tell me that they’re going to use me like Aaron Hernandez,” Zipperer said on how Florida plans to use him. “They’re going to use me all over the field because I have the size and speed and I can just do everything he did.”

Zipperer was a frequent visitor to Gainesville this past year and he believes in what Mullen is doing with the Gators program.

“It’s going up,” he said on where he sees Florida’s program right now. “We’re going to finish it at the top when I get there. Coach Mullen is good at recruiting, he’s a good recruiting coach and he has that swag.”

Now that Zipperer has signed, the Gators coaching staff has told him one thing to work on before he enrolls in school in June.

“Really just work on my speed,” Zipperer said on what Florida wants him to work on. “I got everything else, the weight room is going to come.”

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.