The Florida Gators have had four coaches in the Virginia area this week recruiting several different prospects and that included head coach Jim McElwain who was in town on Wednesday.
One of the stops that McElwain made was to see Maryland defensive tackle Breyon Gaddy (6-5, 335, Virginia Beach, VA. Bishop Sullivan) and his twin Brandon Gaddy at their school.
“Coach [Chris] Rumph, Coach [Torrian] Gray and the head coach all came by,” Breyon Gaddy said. “They just came by my school because my mom just had surgery so she doesn’t really want people over right now. It went good though and I finally got to meet Coach McElwain.”
Since this was the first time for Gaddy to meet McElwain, the defensive tackle was able to form a quick opinion of the Gators head coach.
“I could tell that Coach McElwain was a good coach and a good person,” he said of McElwain. “He got right down to business with me and I liked the way he talked to me. He talked man to man and didn’t just treat me like a recruit or nothing like that.”
McElwain didn’t waste time explaining to the Gaddy twins that the Gators have a big need for defensive tackles.
“He was telling me that every school is going to promise you early playing time but you have to look at everything,” Gaddy said. “He said that Florida was lacking defensive tackles so there was a place for me and my brother to come in and fill that gap. He said that if we come in and work hard then will play there and that he will help us get to the NFL.”
Defensive line coach Chris Rumph has been the guy recruiting Gaddy and his twin brother and the message has stayed the same to the defensive tackles.
“Coach Rumph he’s just been telling me that he likes the way we play and that he needs us,” he said of Rumph’s message. “He’s just been telling us that he can develop us and get us on the field early. He showed me that he’s not afraid to play the young guys.”
Next weekend the Gaddy twins will make their way down to Gainesville for their first trip to campus and they know exactly what they want to see on the official visit.
“I just want to see how the players welcome new guys to the team and to campus,” Gaddy said on what he’s looking forward to seeing this weekend. “Some schools have players that don’t like the new guys so I need to see how Florida is. I also want to talk and see how Coach Rumph teaches when we meet with each other. He said that he was going to go over stuff on the board with us.”
The Gators have done enough already to get themselves in the mix with the Gaddy twins according to Breyon.
“Right now it’s 50-50 between Florida and Maryland,” he said. “I don’t know what is going to be the deciding factor because Maryland doesn’t have a defensive line coach right now but Florida does. I just need to see who Maryland hires.”
INSIDERS TAKE: Florida is trending in the right direction with the Gaddy twins heading into next weekend’s visit. If the Gators can have a good visit with them then Florida has a great shot at flipping them.