Armando Allen seems to be the number one target for the Florida Gators at running back this recruiting season. The Hialeah Miami lakes four star back visited Gainesville for his official visit this weekend and came away impressed with what he saw. Planning on enrolling at his college choice in January, Allen will make his decision known sometime in the first week in December.
Allen is another character guy and one of the main reasons he will decide on a school is because of the people involved. He says that the people at Florida are the real deal.
“The trip was pretty good, it went fine,” Allen said in his usual low key manner. “I really liked the coaching staff and how they interacted with their kids. They are all family guys in the way they treat their players. They care about each individual, not just the starters, but the whole team.”
Allen got to watch a really emotional win in front of raucous crowd. The 90,000 fans in attendance were deafening and it made for an experience he won’t forget any time soon.
“It was pretty different,” Allen said of the crowd. “It is unique and I know there is no other atmosphere like that out there.”
He also watched the game from the standpoint of his position. Allen knows there were some chances that if he had the ball, the score might have been a little more in favor of the Gators than it was. One was when Florida tailback DeShawn Wynn was one on one with a safety and nothing else but pay dirt in front of him. The safety made the tackle.
“I saw a couple of opportunities that I feel like I would do great in with my speed and ability,” Allen said. “That opened my eyes.”
Allen also witnessed the “will to win” with this group of players. It was something that really stuck out to him.
“What I noticed is that they are a group of guys that are focused on what they are doing,” he said. “They aren’t just playing football, they want to go out there and win the national championship. They were real emotional in the locker room it wasn’t just about football.”
Brandon James was his official host and Allen showed up on Friday. He got to see what the team does in preparation for the game the day before and on game day. He watched the Gator Walk and then the game. Then he spent some time on the town afterwards and on Sunday morning met back up with Coach Meyer and Coach Drayton.
“They were really up front with me in the morning meeting and they told me they really needed a running back,” he said. “They gave me the run down on their recruiting and that if I do decide that I want to be there, they would really love to have me.”
It is down to two schools for Armando Allen and a decision has to be near because he will be enrolled in a school by early January. Everyone should know what that decision is in about three weeks. He plans on making the decision final with one of his best friends, someone he calls a cousin, DeMarcus Van Dyke. Van Dyke will also decide between Florida and others.
“My top two are Florida and Notre Dame,” he said. “I am going to make that decision in the first week of December on ESPN. DeMarcus and I are going to do it on the same day.”