Top recruits visiting the Gators on Saturday

By Adam Silverstein
September 16, 2011

Southeastern Conference play begins for the No. 16/17 Florida Gators football team on Saturday as they take on the Tennessee Volunteers at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL but another type of competition also will be going on off the field. Both the football and basketball teams will be hosting some of the top recruits in the country in what stands to be one of the biggest in-season recruiting weekends of the year.

Plenty of Florida’s 2012 commits will be on campus to watch the game, but also hosted are players that the Gators hope to grab verbal commitments from sooner than later.

From a football standpoint, four-star offensive lineman Adam Bisnowaty of Pittsburgh, PA (who is said to have Florida as his leader) is the headliner, while four-star defensive end Leonard Williams (Daytona Beach, FL) and Gainesville native three-star cornerback Chris Bivins will also be taking in the game even though the latter is committed to South Florida. Bivins does not hold an official UF offer as of press time.

The Gators will also have some 2013 recruits at the game, most notably running backs Kelvin Taylor (Belle Glade, FL) and Adam Lane (Winter Haven, FL) as well as wide receiver Richard Benjamin (Tampa, FL), safety Leon McQuay (Seffner, FL) and cornerback J.J. Green (Kingsland, GA). If two of those names sound familiar, it is because Kelvin is the son of Fred Taylor and J.J. is the nephew of Jacquez Green.

The weekend may turn out to be even more important for the basketball team, which will have two big-time recruits on campus.

Five-star point guard Kyle Anderson (Jersey City, NJ) is the No. 2 player in the nation according to Rivals and will be on campus for an official visit. Florida desperately wants Anderson and many believe it will come down to a two-horse race between UF and Seton Hall.

Readers of OGGOA have informed us that there are plans to make signs during the football game in hopes that Anderson recognizes them and how badly the fans want him on campus next season. He is planning to commit on his birthday, Sept. 20, and the reptiles are happy to have him take a visit close to that date.

Also stopping by for visit is a top-ranked player at a position the Gators desperately need to fill. Four-star 2012 center Willie Cauley (Olathe, Kansas) stands 7’0” and weighs in at 225 lbs. The No. 6 center and 39th best player in the country per Rivals, Cauley is down to a final five of Florida, Alabama, Kansas State, Kentucky and Oklahoma. He wants to make a decision during the early signing period.

The future of Gators football and basketball could receive a huge boost if some of Saturday’s visits turn into commitments for Florida going forward.

6 Comments

  1. obgator says:

    Big recruiting weekend.

    I’m sure these guys would love to play with Beal (and I hope Beal is not one-and-done).

    I’m glad we’re looking to add some height with a 7′ as the last one (who claims he’s 6’11” – Noah) was a good one.

  2. Joe says:

    Anderson runs the point in high school, but he definitely is not a PG at the next level. He will be a SF in the Parsons mold who is able to bring the ball up the court at times.

  3. John S says:

    Wow I had no idea that this weekend was critical to the basketball program as well. Welcome all to Gator Nation, enjoy yourselves.

  4. Razzlegator says:

    For those of us in the Tampa Bay area, Leon McQuay is a familiar name as well. His late grandfather was the first black athlete to attend the University of Tampa on a scholarship when the Spartans still played football.

  5. Monstasloth says:

    anderson commited to UCLA.

Join The
Discussion

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Top
WordPress Appliance - Powered by TurnKey Linux