The Florida Gators have had a lot of prospects on campus for spring practice over the last two weeks and several of those guys have been underclassmen players.
One of those underclassmen was 2020 receiver Leonard Manuel (6-4, 205, Ocala, FL. Vanguard) who visited campus last week.
“It went good,” Manuel said. “We got to watch the practice and after the practice, we got to meet the head coach. After that, they toured us around the field and we got to try on the jerseys.”
While on campus the receiver got to talk to several coaches including his area recruiter Greg Nord who had a message for him.
“We got to talk to Coach [Kerry] Dixon, Coach [Greg] Nord and the head coach,” he said of the coaches he got to talk too. “Coach Nord is a great guy and I think he’s really pushing for us to come there. He’s been recruiting us hard since the first time he met us actually. He started recruiting me when we were coming into the 9th grade.”
Receivers coach Kerry Dixon explained to Manuel what the coach likes about him and even let him know that the Gators could use him this year.
“I think he wishes that I could play there,” Manuel said of Kerry Dixon. “He said that watching my film that he could see me playing for them now. He said that he loves my game because I like to block too. He also likes that I can play all of the positions like slot.”
Manuel got the chance to watch spring practice and he really liked how the Gators practiced and liked how Dixon ran his position drills.
“I liked the practice and the drills that Coach Dixon had the receivers doing,” he said of the Gators spring practice. “If they dropped a pass, he made you get back on the line and do it again so that you made the catch.”
The 2020 receiver doesn’t have a leader right now but he does like the Gators after the visit.
“I loved that Orange and Blue and would like to see myself in that one day but you never know,” Manuel said. “I’m just going through the process right now and keeping everything open.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Manuel is one of the top instate guys for his class and is someone that the Gators have been working on since he was first started being recruited.