The Florida Gators recruiting weekend was full of out of state prospects including Georgia linebacker commit Jaleel Laguins (6-1, 210, Watkinsville, GA Oconee County), who took his official to Gainesville this weekend.
“I enjoyed myself this weekend,” Laguins said. “I’ve been down there numerous times before, so I already knew my way around the facilities and the campus. The one thing that was different was the indoor practice facility. I really wanted to see that.”
Laguins, who is a guy that has been on the Florida Gators recruiting board for sometime now, met with everyone over the weekend and felt good about the talks.
“I pretty much talked to the whole coaching staff,” he said. “They were very welcoming and a great coaching staff. It was nice to see them happy to see me down there.”
Florida Gators linebacker coach Randy Shannon watched film with the Georgia commit and Laguins says it was nice to talk to a coaching legend like Shannon.
“Coach Shannon was just going over the way he teaches the defense and how he coaches the defense,” Laguins said. “It means a lot to talk to a coach that has put so many players in the NFL and that coach wants to coach you. You have to take that into consideration when picking a school.”
Defensive coordinator Geoff Collins and Shannon have both been on Laguins a lot lately and they continue with the same message they’ve been preaching the last few months.
“Their message to me is that they need linebackers bad,” he said. “They told me that they could see me playing across the board. They told me that they want me to train at Mike, Will and outside linebacker so I can play everywhere in the defense.”
Sunday morning Laguins met with Florida Gators head coach Jim McElwain and McElwain also preached the same message as Collins and Shannon.
“Coach McElwain was telling me the same thing that they need linebackers like me there,” Laguins said. “We talked about the program in general but his main message was that he wanted me and that they needed me at Florida.”
Laguins had a familiar person as his host this weekend and the current Florida Gator linebacker made sure to let Laguins know what college life was all about.
“JD [Jarrad Davis] was my host during the visit,” he said. “It was pretty fun to see a guy that’s from Georgia at Florida. He’s cut from the same cloth as me. He was telling me to enjoy the process now because when you get to campus it’s going to be a grind.”
The Georgia commit leaves his official visit to Florida still committed but he says he has some thinking to do after he finishes his visits.
“I’m going to Alabama and then Georgia for official visits,” Laguins said. “I’m still committed to Georgia but it was good to come out to Florida for a visit. The visit didn’t hurt them but I need to finish the rest of my visits before thinking about anything.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Laguins doesn’t like to talk much, but the impression I got was that Alabama and Georgia were ahead of Florida right now. Geoff Collins will visit Laguins on Tuesday in hopes of keeping the Florida Gators recruiting momentum going.
Then he should commit to Florida. They need a top LB . Especially if V.Joseph is gonna decommit and flip.
Joseph isn’t going anywhere and I expect Laguins to stick with UGA.
Really??Good, as long as they get Joseph and Moon I think they will be fine at LB.
Have you heard anything about S J.Taylor?What do you think about him staying or flipping.
I believe he sticks
I still think the Gators should have tried getting Center, Shane Leonard from Marshfield,MA. I saw the kid play a few times this year and he is really good. He’s raw and could use some coaching but he has the size, strength,and quickness to be good. He said if they had offered him he would have jumped at an opportunity to play for them. He’s going to BC. Check him out,tell me what you think.
TE Danny Dalton committed to Penn State from Marshfield,MA is really good too.