Florida played their first night game in The Swamp on Saturday night in front of a raucous crowd and defeated the Arkansas Razorbacks 30-10.
While the visitors list wasn’t huge, the Gators did host one of their top targets in Jacksonville (Fla.) Providence School offensive lineman David Sharpe, who was also impressed by the night atmosphere in Gainesville.
“I enjoyed my visit it was a good time,” Sharpe said. “I loved the atmosphere at night. It was my first visit for a night game at Florida. I liked it, the crowd was really loud.”
The 6-foot-8, 275-pound Sharpe and his father arrived early for their visit to Gainesville and they had the opportunity to sit down with two of Florida’s coaches.
“I talked to (Will) Muschamp twice,” Sharpe said. “He was telling me that I have a good opportunity at Florida if I come there. I talked to coach (Tim) Davis too he was telling me he would love to have me there and that I would fit in well there too.”
Some people close to the Jacksonville product have said that Sharpe didn’t like Florida’s offense but he said he was actually impressed by the Gators on Saturday.
“I liked the offense it was nice and different,” Sharpe said. “The pass offense and the line were doing well with Tyler Murphy in the game. It seemed like the offense was more up-tempo or fast pace than in the past.”
Being a high profile prospect like the Providence High star is means everyone wants to know where Sharpe will visit next. But your guess is as good as his because even Sharpe doesn’t know where he will take his official visits yet.
“I’m going to visit (Florida) for the Florida State game in November,” Sharpe said. “I’m not sure if I’m going to take an official to Florida or not but I’m thinking about it now. I’m really not sure where I’m going to take officials too anymore but probably to LSU but I have to take the ACT first before I can do that.”
Florida and Georgia are two schools that Sharpe is heavily considering and he’ll be able to kill two birds with one stone later this month when both teams meet up in his hometown.
“I’ll also be at the Florida/Georgia game in Jacksonville in a few weeks,” Sharpe said.
Sharpe has played his cards close to the vest throughout his recruitment but he did put the rumors that Florida is out of his recruitment or that Georgia was leading for him to rest.
“Florida was never out of the mix for me I’m not sure why people say that,” Sharpe said. “I have no leader.”