Tyler Cook preparing to visit the Florida Gators

Florida Gators Basketball Coach Mike White has been busy trying to do his best to  catch up in the recruiting world for the class of 2016 ever since he arrived in Gainesville last spring.

One of White’s key targets is forward Tyler Cook (6-8, 240, St. Louis, MO Chaminade) who has set up an official visit to see the Florida Gators, as he’s focused in on six schools, according to his father, Trent Cook.

“We are taking an official visit to Florida the first weekend of September, I believe September 4th is the date,” Cook’s father said. “Right now he’s focused in on his top six schools. Florida, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Iowa State and Virginia.”

With Cook down to six schools, one school is going to be left out of getting an official visit, but right now the Cook family is just waiting before they set anymore official visits up.

“We have a couple of other visits pending right now,” Cook’s father said of other trips coming up. “We have a couple of in-home visits with Iowa, Iowa State and Arkansas coming up and we hope to set up some visits during that time. We will talk to Florida during the visit about them coming in-home.”

The Florida Gators are the only school with an official visit set and a lot of that has to do with the work that White and his assistant coaches have done with Cook.

“We are being talked to and recruited by both Coach White and Coach [Dusty] May right now,” Cook’s father said. “They are telling him that he is certainly a priority for them as a 2016 recruit and that they are going to take over where Coach [Billy] Donovan left off. They want us to know that the transition is moving along and that they want Tyler to be apart of the class.”

White and Florida are at a disadvantage because all of the other five schools have long relationships with Cook and his family but the Gators are working hard to get that fixed.

“Right now our relationship with Florida is being built in short order, you could say,” Cook’s father said. “They had some ground to make up beyond the introduction of trying to get to know each other but it’s a relationship that is being built.”

Billy Donovan and Florida had a lot of success at Chaminade High School, they landed Bradley Beal and David Lee from the school, and that’s a plus according to Cook’s father.

“It doesn’t necessarily play a factor but it’s certainly an added benefit that there has been some relationship between the two programs,” Cook’s father said. “Really it comes down to the relationship Tyler has with the coaching staff and the program.”

When Cook visits Florida in September it will be a big visit but right now the forward has no timetable on when he will decide so the Gators will have to continue to recruit Cook hard after his official visit.

“He doesn’t have a date in mind because we are just getting around to taking officials,” Cook’s father said. “We just plan to take our time so that he can make the best possible he can.”

INSIDERS TAKE: According to Cook’s father, Cook is still undecided on how many official visits he will take and who will receive them. This visit coming up to Gainesville is huge for the family as the Gators coaching staff has a chance to really bond with the family.

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.