For a high profile Division I football program, it’s fairly unusual to add a new signee for the upcoming season a week or two before practice begins in August, but unusual is the right word when describing the recruitment of Stephen Alli.
To say Alli’s path to Gainesville was a bit unusual would be an understatement. Born in Toronto, Alli (pronounced AL-lee) was a star basketball player and track athlete before moving on to complete a year of prep school at the Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire. Playing American Football for the first time, Alli had a good, if not extraordinary season. He gained 351 yards and 7 touchdowns on just 13 receptions (an average of 27 yards per catch), showing the ability to make big plays.
His name made waves in some recruiting services after an impressive performance at a combine in the northeast in the early part of the summer, but even Florida head coach Urban Meyer wasn’t familiar with the name until Alli arrived on campus for a summer camp session in June.
“I was driving by in a golf cart and said ‘who’s that?’ He came to our camp and dominated,” Meyer quipped.
After Alli’s performance, both parties were sold on each other, and Alli quickly made a commitment to become a Florida Gator for the recruiting class of 2010. So why now is Alli enrolled and ready to go for the 2009 season? Take it from the head coach himself — “That’s a great story,” Meyer said.
As is typical with most recruits, Florida did its homework to see if Alli could enroll early but the Florida staff was thinking January.
“We didn’t expect him to come in this early,” Meyer said. “We did our research, because we were going to try to get him in January, and the school told us well, you can’t do that, but how about now?
“Now? What do you mean?”
What the academic people at the Proctor Academy meant, was that Alli’s Canadian educational background set him apart from most kids coming out of prep school.
“We found out he had three years of high school in Toronto, and one year at the prep school,” Meyer said.
With his core classes completed, and test score in hand, Alli had to make a decision about his final year of school — should he go ahead and take the plunge to enroll at the University of Florida?
“It was difficult, but it was really thought out,” Alli said of the decision. “I talked to a lot of mentors, my family, and my coaches. So, it was the best decision for me, and it was an opportunity I didn’t want to pass up.”
For the Florida staff, it was a no-brainer despite the fact Alli is a relative newcomer to the whole football thing.
“First of all, he’s a tremendous young person,” Meyer said. “He carried a 3.7 GPA [in high school], pre-med major. On top of that, he’s just under 6-foot-6, and he ran a 4.4 in the Swamp that day [at camp]. We worked his tail off at camp.”
After the surprising last-minute switch of Nu’Keese Richardson to Tennessee right before National Signing Day, Florida was left with just one wide receiver in the class of 2009. Getting Alli enrolled a year early plugged one of the few holes in the 2009 class in giving Florida a second receiver to come in with the freshmen. It also gave Billy Gonzales a fun new toy to play with among his wide receiver corps.
“I’m excited,” Gonzales said. “He’s a really smart kid. He picks things up. He came over on Saturday on the day off. We went through the playbook, he just wanted to ask question. Really, really neat young man. He’s like a sponge. He said ‘Coach, in two days I’ve learned more about football than I have in my entire life.’ That’s how it’s going to be. Those are the things that get you pumped up and excited. He’s taking in every word you say, it’s attention to detail. It’s always fun to coach a guy like that.”
While the coaching staff has been impressed with Alli so far, they aren’t the only ones. Fellow freshman Andre Debose, who is no stranger to talent, has also been impressed with the young Canadian product after just a few days out on the practice fields.
“I’ve never seen a guy who’s 6-5 who can run like that,” he deadpanned. “I was just amazed. I thought he was going to be one of those possession receivers who just can’t move too much.”
But Alli can move alright, move so quickly he got to Florida a year earlier than expected. He knows what kind of pressures await a player on this team, but he’s just focused on improving and developing into a contributor in Gainesville as soon as he can.
“It’s kind of a dream come true,” he said. “I’ve got to make the best of it.”
While the expectations surrounding a player that big and fast can often be over-the-top, Urban Meyer warned that this is a different case altogether.
“It’s probably going to take a while,” he said of Alli’s development. “It’s not fair to just throw that at him. He’s walking around right now like he’s on Mars.”
No matter what planet Alli may look like he’s (space) walking on right now, the possibilities that await a player of his immense tools are almost boundless. It’s enough to have this staff giddy, and they don’t get that way about freshmen too often.
“It’s a learning process,” Gonzales pointed out. “But I’m extremely excited about his upside and potential.”