One day after Florida Gators head basketball coach Michael White lost his lone 2016 commit, the Gators picked up a new commitment when guard Eric Hester (6-4, 170, Oldsmar, FL Oldsmar Christian) committed to Florida over several others.
Hester choose Florida over offers from Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, and South Florida among other offers, and the guard said it was because of the love that the Florida Gators coaching staff showed him.
“I never really had a date set for my commitment so it just kinda happened that I committed to Florida on Friday,” Hester said on why he committed. “The coaches had been on me since they got the job at Florida. They made all my games during the summer and I just feel like we have a great relationship with each other.”
Over the summer some teams backed off of recruiting Hester hard, but White continued to pursue Hester and the Oldsmar guard feels like it’s a good fit in Gainesville.
“Many schools backed off of me but I feel like Florida sees something that others don’t see,” he said. “I trust and believe in their system and I think it’s going to fit the way I play well.”
White is a young guy with young coaches surrounding him on his staff. That’s something that Hester sees and something he also heard when he told the Gators coaches of his big news.
“Coach White was excited, they were really pumped when I told them,” Hester said. “All of the coaches are energetic coaches and people and they’re really good people. I really like Coach White’s personality too.”
Now that Hester has committed to Florida he’s ready to finish off his senior year strong and he knows the plan that Florida has for him once he enrolls in Gainesville.
“There going to go real fast and get out in transition and just run,” Hester said of White’s plans. “We both feel like that’s where I am strong at on offense too. He wants to bring me in as a two guard, but transform me into the one guard. I feel like I will learn a lot from Kasey [Hill] so that will help with me becoming a full time point guard.”
Hester says that he’s very comfortable with his decision and his future of being a Florida Gators basketball player.
“I’m going to take my planned official visit to Florida on September 4th still,” White said. “My time there is going to be good, I will get a really good education and I trust the coaches and there system to get me to the next level as a player. Florida is a great program.”