Florida impresses a FSU legacy on Saturday

The Florida Gators hosted its annual Orange and Blue spring game on Saturday and with that the Gators coaching staff had several big name prospects on campus.

Kicker Ricky Aguayo (5-11, 170, Bradenton, FL IMG Academy) was one of the prospects in attendance and he got the chance to finally meet Jim McElwain and his staff.

“It was good, everything I can say about it was good,” Aguayo said. “I liked the new coaching staff because it was my first chance to meet the new coaching staff under coach McElwain. I like coach [Marc] Nuddleberg and coach [Greg] Nord. It was a good first impression.”

Like most special teams players Aguayo paid more attention to the kickers on Saturday and he liked what he saw from the Gators’ special teams on Saturday.

“It was good to watch the spring game,” Aguayo said. “I was paying a lot of attention to Austin Hardin and Johnny Townsend and focusing more on the special teams. I watched the other kicker a little too. Austin and Johnny were both hitting the ball pretty well.”

Quality control assistant Marc Nuddleberg is considered a special teams guru and he along with special teams coach Greg Nord are both recruiting Aguayo hard and they have set him up for another visit to Florida.”

“Coach Nuddleberg really wants me to come up to the June 17th kicking camp at Florida,” Aguayo said. “He and coach Nord were both interested in me and both were excited about me coming up for the camp. I’m very excited to come to that camp also but they tell me that they have a big opportunity for me down there.”

Aguayo was very excited about his trip to Florida and while he didn’t get a lot of time to talk with McElwain, the IMG prospect did come away with a good feeling about the Gators head coach.

“I didn’t speak to coach McElwain one-on-one a lot during the visit,” Aguayo said. “He seemed like a great person and a great coach. He seems like he brings energy to the whole coaching staff. I think he’s doing some big things down there in Gainesville.”

Florida has yet to offer Aguayo, or any kicker in the class of 2016 yet, but Augyo says he knows that kickers must compete in camps this summer and he plans to do that at Florida and other schools.

“Most of the coaches want to see a kicker in person before they offer me and that’s what Florida is saying as well,” Aguayo said. “They want to see how the ball sounds off my foot. Florida is one of the camps that I know I will attend and I plan to attend a few other kicking camps as well.”

A lot of college football fans expect Aguayo to end up at Florida State because his older brother Roberto is the current kicker there but the younger Augyo says nothing is guaranteed right now.

“I’m pretty open right now, I’m going to weigh all of my options,” Aguayo said. “Florida State is looking at two other kickers in my class and they signed a 2015 preferred walk-on so I’m keeping my recruiting process open and looking at other colleges.”

INSIDERS TAKE: Aguayo admitted that he felt very comfortable at Florida and the Gators, in my opinion, have a decent to good shot here if they offer him during his visit to Florida this summer.

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.