Will Muschamp has had a lot of success recruiting top notch defensive backs to Florida since the day he arrived on campus.
On Tuesday, he added another defensive back as 2014 Cross City (Fla.) Dixie County cornerback Duke Dawson committed to Florida during a ceremony at his high school.
“I’m committing to Florida,” Dawson said. “The love I get from the coaches every time I visit Florida is great. Florida is also in the best conference in college football in the SEC and Florida is a great school for college football.”
Dawson has been on the UF campus for nearly every home game this fall and also visited the Gators for their annual banquet. He followed that up by visiting one of Florida’s bowl practices.
The 5-foot-11, 188-pound Dawson is a physical cornerback, and he is looking forward to playing for a defensive minded coach in Will Muschamp, who also helps coach the defensive backs.
“It’s going to be great playing in Coach Muschamp’s defense,” Dawson said. “There will be five defensive backs leaving after next season. Coach Muschamp told me he needed a physical cornerback to come in and replace those guys next year.”
Despite the early commitment to Florida, Dawson said he will probably still take some visits to enjoy the recruiting process next fall.
At last week’s Under Armour Underclassmen Combine Dawson ran a 4.63 40-yard dash and had a vertical jump of 31 inches.
During his junior season, Dawson had 43 tackles, two interceptions and also forced a fumble and recovered two fumbles while playing on defense.
Dawson also played some offense and had 159 rushing yards and three touchdowns. He also added 120 receiving yards and another touchdown.