Several prospects picked up offers for the Florida Gators recruiting class of 2018 on Saturday during the Gators junior day and that included one instate prospects.
Defensive back Juanyeh Thomas (6-2, 204, Niceville, FL. High) was one of those guys and he liked watching the Gators practice.
“It was great, I loved the facilities and I love the coaches,” Thomas said of the visit to Florida on Saturday. “The best part of it all was practice. I love the field tempo of their practices. We got to do a lot, though; we toured the facilities, went on the game field and then watched practice. We learned about the academics and met with all of the coaches then I met with Coach Mac.”
After practice was over, Thomas learned the new of his offer during a meeting with Gators head coach Jim McElwain.
“Coach Mac was the one who offered me,” he said. “He said he’s very excited for me and that he thinks highly of me. He said that he would love to see me a Gator at the end.”
Thomas who has several big offers already called his Florida offer a special one and he explained why.
“The offer means the world to me,” Thomas said of what the offer meant to him. “This was a dream come true because Florida was my favorite school growing up. I dreamed about this day and I knew it would come. I just had to go out and earn it. This is mainly my goal that I wanted to achieve.”
While watching practice Thomas paid close attention to defensive backs coach Corey Bell and the defensive backs.
“I loved it,” Thomas said of Bell’s coaching style. “I love the realness of Coach Bell towards his players. He wants his players to be the best on and off the field and he shows that.”
Bell met with Thomas for the first time on Saturday and explained to him what the Gators like him about him.
“He was just telling me to say getting better every day,” he said of Bell’s message to him. “He wants me to come back up again this spring to talk with him. He said he wanted me to play in that Orange and Blue. He said my size as a corner is amazing.”
After picking up the Gators offer, Thomas has Florida sitting at the top but other schools are still in the mix.
“Right now Florida is number one for me,” Thomas said of schools standing out to him. “Auburn is number two and Georgia Tech is number three. My decision might change from now but those are my top three schools that I like the most. I plan to take more visits and I play to return to Florida sometime in the spring.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Thomas says he wants to make a decision either during the spring or at his spring game. Florida and Auburn are the two schools to watch here for Thomas heading into that decision.