Florida Gators has Peoples-Jones attention

One of the biggest named visitors on the Florida Gators campus for Friday Night Lights was 2017 receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones (6-1, 188, Detroit, MI Cass Tech), who made the long trip down to Gainesville for the weekend.

Peoples-Jones has gone on record saying that he grew up rooting for the Florida Gators, but this was his first trip to the Swamp and it was a good one he says.

“The Florida visit went well,” Peoples-Jones said.. “I’d never been there before and I had heard a lot of things about the program. I enjoyed my time down there.”

The 2017 receiver’s  goals for the visit were to meet the new staff at Florida and to see Ben Hill Griffin Stadium for himself. He was able to do both during his time in Gainesville.

“My favorite part was being in the Swamp and hanging out with the coaching staff,” he said. “I enjoyed hanging out with the staff and I expect great things this season from Florida and Coach [Jim] McElwain.”

Peoples-Jones has been recruited by offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier for the last few years but this was his first chance to see him in the Orange and Blue.

“I like that he has taken the time to continue to recruit me,” Peoples-Jones said. “He said that he’ll be coming up to see me sometime this season.”

Friday was the first time for the Michigan receiver to meet Florida Gators receiver coach Kerry Dixon and it was a good impression, he says.

“Coach Dixon was a real cool guy,” he said of Dixon. “His message to me was simple; that he wants to get me on board at Florida.”

Peoples-Jones was also receiving major attention from McElwain and 2017 Florida Gators quarterback commit Jake Allen during his time in Gainesville.

“Coach McElwain told me everything about the Florida program and he advised me to go where my heart is at,” he said. “I did get to talk to Jake Allen and he’s a good guy too. I’m looking forward to connecting with him the next I visit Florida.”

Now that Peoples-Jones has visited the Gators he says that he’s already setting up another visit to Florida.

“I do plan to get back down to Florida,” Peoples-Jones said. “Right now I have no timeline and no leader.”

 

INSIDERS TAKE: Florida made a big impression on Peoples-Jones but with such a long time to go in his recruitment it’s hard for any one team to be comfortable about the 2017 receiver. The Gators are likely going to be in the mix until the end however.

 

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.