Notebook: Gators commits, targets shine in all-star game

ST. PETERSBURG — Four-star defensive end Jordan Jenkins doesn’t say “hella” — he’s more of a y’all kind of guy.

Transplanted to Hamilton, Ga., from Washington, Jenkins said it has been funny listening to the idiosyncratic differences between the West and East Coast Under Armour All-America players this week.

“One of the signature words that lets you tell if someone is from California or Washington or something like that is ... if they start saying ‘hella.’ I’ve gotten sort of into that Southern drawl a little bit.”

Jenkins had an explosive night for Team Highlight at Tropicana Field Thursday night in the Under Armour All-America Game, putting up eight tackles and two sacks.

Marcus Maye starred in the UA game.

He has been a major target for Florida commits recently, with his decision between Alabama and Florida to be announced today.

“I definitely haven’t made my decision yet,” Jenkins said. “A lot of thinking, a lot of stress, and a big earful from my dad (will happen during the decision-making process this weekend).”

Jenkins also confirmed he would visit with UF coaches after the game, after an invite from defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.

“I definitely feel honored because I’m not even a commit and they want me to come down,” Jenkins said.

Maye excels: For Florida oral commit Marcus Maye, the Under Armour All-America game was about redemption.

The four-star prospect out of Melbourne saw his senior season at Holy Trinity end due to a foot injury.

Maye, although recruited as a safety, dazzled at the outside linebacker position. He tallied five tackles and two assists as well as a fumble recovery in the first half. Maye also blocked a punt that went for a safety, the first safety in the 5-year history of the game.

To participate in the Under Armour game, which his Team Blur dominated in a 49-16 win, was a “one-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Maye said.

“Definitely been through a little ups and downs and stuff like that, but I’m all healed. ... I was glad to be back on the field. The way I went out on top this year — I couldn’t ask for anything else.”

Thompson working targets: Gators oral commit Colin Thompson celebrated Team Blur’s rout of Team Highlight by, well, going to Disney World.

He spent Friday at the theme park with his family: members of a party of 40 that traveled from his hometown in Warminster, Pa., to see him play in the Under Armour game.

The four-star tight end had a catch for 16 yards in the third quarter, and used his 6-foot-5, 255-pound frame to make a big impact blocking for Team Blur.

Thompson has also been making an impact on the recruiting trail for UF, talking up the Gators to other undecided All-Americans throughout the past few days.

“To put names with faces and actually meeting the guys is what I really care about,” he said. “I’ll recruit the guys that are great people over a player who may be better than them. Those are the people I want to play with.”

Poole sets record: Brian Poole hasn’t yet signed his letter of intent, but he is already breaking Gators’ records.

In the first quarter, his 93-yard pick-six set an Under Armour All-America game record for longest touchdown play, a mark previously held by current Gator Andre Debose.

“My instincts just took me to it, and once the ball hit my hands, I already had in my mind I was going to the house,” Poole said of the play. “It’s a great opportunity to be in the record book, so I’m excited about it.”

Poole and Maye, both on the victorious Team Blur, had monster performances.

“I feel like we made a huge statement,” he said, also expressing his pride in his future teammates as well.

“It was awesome — all us came out, made a lot of plays, had a lot of fun. I mean, we just showing the future of the program at Florida.”

Oral commitments are nonbinding until a national letter of intent is signed on or after National Signing Day on Feb. 1, 2012.

Florida loses a running back commit

Four-star running back prospect Mike Davis once said Florida’s biggest ailment on the field was its need for “bigger backs.”

Now, the Gators need to find one more.

Davis, at 5-foot-10 and 200 pounds, would have been a much-needed ballcarrier at UF in the wake of the departures of seniors Chris Rainey and Jeff Demps. But after being orally committed to Florida since Feb. 19, Davis decommitted Sunday night.

Running back Mike Davis has decommitted from UF.

Last Tuesday, tight ends coach Derek Lewis made an in-home visit to Davis in Stone Mountain, Ga. Davis said the meeting had gone “well,” and his decision to decommit had nothing to do with the visit, but “it was just something I noticed the next day.”

Citing a “misunderstanding” with coaches as the reason he chose to reopen his recruitment, Davis would not elaborate on the altercation. On his Twitter he posted: “It’s funny when you look a coach in the eye [and] see right through the B.S. dey be feedin you.”

“Nothing really happened,” he said. “I can’t say because I don’t bash on coaches, but it was just a misunderstanding with me and the coaches.

“It wasn’t anything bad at all, it was just a misunderstanding with some things said and that happened. … There wasn’t nothing that sparked it. The thing that happened wasn’t supposed to happen.”

After he informed the Florida staff of his decision Monday, Davis said it emphasized to him that the opportunity to play in Gainesville was still available if he ever changed his mind.

Now on his radar are Tennessee, South Carolina, Miami and Florida State.

“Some things might happen,” he said, indicating UF may still be in consideration.

Davis took his first official visit on Friday to Tennessee, and will be in Tallahassee on Dec. 16 for an official visit to Florida State. He also said he is arranging plans for an official visit to South Carolina in the near future.

Davis’ decommitment leaves the Gators with a single running back scheduled to sign on National Signing Day — four-star prospect Matt Jones of Seffner Armwood High — and 16 total commitments.

However, at the top of Florida’s wish list has been running back Keith Marshall of Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook High, the nation’s No. 1 back, according to Rivals.com. With his commitment set for this afternoon, Marshall will pick between UF and Georgia, among others, and possibly negate Florida’s fears of poor depth at running back.

Oral commitments are non-binding until a national letter of intent is signed on or after National Signing Day on Feb. 1, 2012.

This article originally appeared in the Independent Florida Alligator on Dec. 6.

No. 1 DE recruit dealing with discipline issues

ST. PETERSBURG — Dante Fowler Jr. could be considered either one of high school football’s biggest question marks or one of its boldest exclamation points.

At 6-foot-3, 232 pounds, Fowler carries the title of the nation’s No. 1 defensive end recruit, according to Rivals.com.

Beneath the evasive façade and tough bravado, though, is just an 18-year-old with a soft voice and a wide-toothed smile — and an easily ignited temper.

Dante Fowler, Jr. is an FSU oral commit.

After an on-field dispute last season, Fowler was ejected from a game and served a one-game suspension from the Florida High School Athletic Association.

Then, in early September, according to the St. Petersburg Times, a growing tension between Fowler and his coaches at St. Petersburg Lakewood High was detonated by one maverick play.

Fowler, frustrated by being double teamed in Lakewood’s season opener against Seminole High, went rogue and recorded a sack despite orders from his coaches to remain inside. Then came a four-week suspension from coach Cory Moore.

Against St. Petersburg High on Friday night, Fowler also got into trouble, beginning with a late hit in the first quarter, after which he taunted the offensive lineman he had pushed around.

He was also involved in a dispute involving a few players from both teams on the St. Petersburg sideline after a player was pushed out of bounds.

“Yeah, I get out of line a lot,” Fowler said, “but I’m going to have to practice on that in college.”

Coupled with his on-field aggression is a senior season in which Fowler has failed to meet expectations and his own goals.

Before the season, Fowler had set a goal of 25 sacks. Instead, he watched his team go 5-0 from afar before rejoining the squad that has now ended its season on a 1-4 note.

Fowler ripped off his helmet nearly every time his cleats crossed the Lakewood sideline Friday night, often throwing it to the ground in irritation.

For a defensive lineman heralded for his pass-rushing ability and knack for disrupting offenses, Fowler seemed to consistently be the farthest Lakewood defender from the ball.

He recorded just one and a half tackles before halftime and capped the 37-14 loss with five tackles and two assisted tackles. He was also pulled out for a few fourth-quarter plays and later reinstated at tackle.

“It’s a tough loss,” Fowler said.

“The whole season, teams have been scheming against me … but I’m glad I made it through my senior season, all four years with not like a real bad injury.

“I’m ready to take it to the next level.”

He has been a soft oral commit to FSU since last December.

After stating he would keep everyone guessing until National Signing Day on Feb. 1, he retracted comments about taking official visits to UF, Southern California, LSU and Clemson during a trip to Tallahassee last weekend.

Fowler was originally scheduled to take an unofficial visit to Florida during the Vanderbilt game two weeks ago before making an official visit in January.

It is unclear whether he still plans to attend UF’s game against FSU on Nov. 26.

Oral commitments are non-binding until a national letter of intent is signed on or after National Signing Day on Feb. 1, 2012.

This article originally appeared in the Independent Florida Alligator on Nov. 15.

Receiver prospect has Gainesville roots

Uriah LeMay is 17 years old, but he was in Gainesville to celebrate the Gators winning a BCS title before most students on campus applied to college.

However, none of that sports stuff really interested the young LeMay, who grew up in Gainesville while his dad served as a chaplain for the Gators’ football team under former coach Urban Meyer.

Although football runs in both his brothers’ blood, as well as that of his dad, Stacy, who played football for Florida A&M, LeMay said he was never a sports nut as a kid. While his older brother, Christian, would be soaking in stats from ESPN on television, Uriah said he would be in the backyard playing with the dog or hanging from monkey bars.

When former UF quarterback Chris Leak came over to the LeMay house to have dinner, he asked his big brother, “Who’s Chris Leak?” At the time, LeMay only knew Tim Tebow’s name because they had talked about their shared Christian beliefs when Tebow was a freshman at UF and LeMay thought he was a “cool” mentor.

Uriah LeMay, a 2013 WR prospect, is the son of a former UF chaplain.

And after his time playing  flag football in pee-wee leagues was spent, he quit the game because he said he was scared of getting hit. He grew up watching his two brothers from the sidelines, including Christian, who is now a freshman quarterback at Georgia.

Finally, cheerleading got old for the middle LeMay boy, who dipped his speedy feet back into the game as a linebacker and running back at the beginning of his middle school career.

By eighth grade, he had made the transition to wide receiver.

“That’s when I started to become the player I am today,” he said.

The player LeMay is today, a 6-foot-2, 188-pound junior from Matthews (N.C.) Butler High, holds 18 scholarship offers. He said Alabama, Rutgers, LSU, Tennessee, Florida and FSU are the schools recruiting him most heavily.

LeMay said his ideal school will provide “just honesty from the coaches about how everything is going, how things will be going when I get there, as well as just a safe environment.”

This article originally appeared in the Independent Florida Alligator on Nov. 2.

No. 1 tight end recruit commits to Florida

LAND O’LAKES  — The 6-foot-5, 215-pound son of a former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive tackle tries very hard to keep his secrets.

Kent Taylor, rated the No. 1 tight end in the nation by Rivals.com, walked into the lobby of the Land O’Lakes High gym wearing red and black, an ambiguous color choice given his offers from FSU, Georgia and Alabama.

He had waited nearly a month, keeping his decision under wraps until the Thursday afternoon ceremony presenting him with his U.S. Army All-American Bowl jersey.

He said only a few close friends and family members knew his final decision.

Kent Taylor of Land O' Lakes, the nation's No. 1 tight end, is committed to UF.

Taylor has hung out in Nick Saban’s office and Joe Paterno’s house. His final choices included college football’s No. 1- and No. 2-ranked schools in LSU and Alabama, respectively.

His principal even said the ceremony was “one of the most important announcements in Land O’Lakes High School’s history.”

So after Taylor slipped on the black-and-gold All-American jersey, he stepped up to the podium, visibly anxious. He thanked his loved ones and talked gratefully about his final six choices: LSU, Alabama, Penn State, Georgia, FSU and Florida.

“But I do want to tell you guys this,” he started. “Once a Gator – “

He stopped, reaching for a Philadelphia Phillies drawstring backpack, which he struggled opening for about 20 seconds.

“Uh,” he stuttered awkwardly. “Hold on.”

“— always a Gator.”

He threw on an orange-and-blue hat, finally making his decision public.

Earlier this month, when Taylor called UF tight ends coach Derek Lewis to inform the staff of his decision, he said all the coaches were in a meeting room.

“When I committed, they really went crazy,” Taylor said.

His oral commitment is significant for Florida, which just had sophomore tight end Gerald Christian announce his transfer. Taylor is also the 17th overall oral commit in coach Will Muschamp’s first full class.

“I wanted to play football since I knew what football was,” Taylor said. “My dad played for the Bucs, and I’ve always wanted to do it. So now that I’ve lived through (that) and I get to go to Florida … it’s absolutely a dream come true.”

But the biggest determining factor, Taylor repeated several times, was the promise of playing time in the new offense.

“Past history has shown that the offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis, is going to throw to tight ends,” he said.

“It depends how ready I am and how big I get. They kind of said as a freshman, (I’ll be) just kind of catching balls and growing into that every-down blocker.”

Next on Taylor’s schedule: “absolutely got to recruit recruits.”

He said he is currently talking to Tampa Berkeley Prep five-star athlete Nelson Agholor, the nation’s No. 11 overall recruit, and St. Petersburg Lakewood High five-star defensive end Dante Fowler, Jr., who is currently a soft oral commit for FSU.

Oral commitments are non-binding until a national letter of intent is signed on or after National Signing Day on Feb. 1, 2012.

This article originally appeared in the Independent Florida Alligator on Oct. 28.

UF commits not wavering despite three big losses

Breaking up isn’t as hard as it’s said to be.

Lorenzo Phillips, an outside linebacker from Patterson (La.) High, decommitted from Florida last week. Now he’s considering Houston, where two of his teammates are committed; Texas A&M, where he decommitted from in March; as well as LSU, Alabama, Pittsburgh, Nebraska, Louisiana Tech and Tennessee. He told Rivals.com that distance from home was the factor that prompted reopening his recruitment.

Some other UF oral commits don’t buy that.

Mike Davis, a running back commit from Stone Mountain (Ga.) Stephenson High wasn’t surprised.

“I think it had to do with the three lost (games),” he said.

In a recruiting realm where oral commitments are often announced and withdrawn with spontaneity or seriousness, many schools land sought-after athletes only to see them shift allegiances to the next big offer thrown their way.

Some blame coaches, parents and mentors for letting teenagers freely make decisions and not holding them accountable. Some blame the intense fan following of recruiting news, and the Internet. Others blame college coaching staffs, whose interest in certain recruits can decline when the prep star next door makes headlines.

Yet another cause is the potential effect of a losing streak on recruits’ decisions.

Florida is in the midst of a three-game slide, losing at home to Alabama and on the road against LSU and Auburn.

But other than Phillips, Florida’s 2012 recruiting class seems unwavering.

“Yes, it has been rough,” said Davis, who orally committed Feb. 19. “It affects (my commitment), but not as much. I just look at it as ‘Why are we losing games? We should win.’… I love the new offense, (but) Florida needs bigger backs… I want to come in and help the Gators win. I look at it as a rebuilding year for any team.”

Wide receiver commit Latroy Pittman of Citra North Marion High committed on Aug. 18, 2010. He was a bit surprised by the Phillips news, but said the losing streak “really doesn’t affect me much. Every team has its run and their rough seasons.”

“Just take it for what it is: new coaching staff, kind of a young team looking for its identity. Just playing more assignment football, doing more of the little things right (are keys),” he said.

Melbourne Holy Trinity’s Marcus Maye, a safety commit, was also surprised by Phillips’ move, but says that as far as his commitment, he is “still in, 100 percent.”

 Maye, who injured his foot earlier this month, said one thing is on his mind when watching the struggling Gators: “Make them better.”

Oral commitments are non-binding until a national letter of intent is signed on or after National Signing  Day on Feb. 1, 2012.

This article originally appeared in the Independent Florida Alligator on Oct. 27.

Top 2013 QB weighing his options

Cord Sandberg is a 16-year-old multitasking machine.

As a freshman, he practiced with the Bradenton Manatee High varsity squad, led his junior varsity team to an undefeated season and recorded playing time in the first round of the state playoffs. As a sophomore, he led Manatee to a 13-1 season that ended in a state semifinals loss to perennial power Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas. That season, he threw for 2,855 yards and 25 touchdowns while rushing for 579 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Sandberg also said he hit .399 on the baseball team in the spring, racking up five home runs and 25 RBIs in the lead-off role as Manatee advanced to the state semifinals. He has been projected to be an early round pick in the MLB draft by his senior year.

It’s fair to say the 6-foot-2, 190-pound dual-threat quarterback and two-sport prospect has a few avenues to pursue.

Now a junior, Sandberg and the Hurricanes are 3-2, with close losses against No. 10 Olney (Md.) Our Lady of Good Counsel and No. 1 Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep. He has collected offers from Auburn, Clemson, Cincinnati and Iowa State, while also talking to coaches and drawing interest from Alabama, FSU, Stanford, Texas, Tennessee and Florida.

“Right now, my options are open as far as football or baseball,” Sandberg said. “During football season, I’m going 100 percent and loving it. But when it ends, it’s baseball season and I give (that) everything I’ve got.

“Whatever happens next year — senior year — is probably what I’ll end up doing. I’m not sure yet right now, though.”

Cord Sandberg, a Manatee High junior, is a dual-threat
QB as well as a dual-sport athlete.

After his freshman season, Sandberg had already been around the recruiting circuit with trips to Auburn, Clemson and Florida. Last summer, he visited FSU, Alabama and Tennessee. After his junior year, he plans to add LSU, Texas and Stanford to the itinerary.

This summer, Sandberg was invited to Gainesville for a one-day offensive and defensive line camp to put his arm on display, an experience he enjoyed.

 “I talked to (Florida offensive coordinator Charlie) Weis, and he seemed like a pretty bright guy as far as offense and developing quarterbacks,” Sandberg said. “If they were interested in me at Florida, that would definitely be an option I would have to consider for sure.”

Sandberg also has some family ties to Florida. His father, Chuck, an assistant coach for Manatee, was a first baseman for UF’s baseball team in 1979.

“I am open to wherever as of right now,” Sandberg said. “But Auburn and Clemson have definitely shown the most interest. Personally, I want to go to a place where the coaches and atmosphere feel right. So whatever happens, happens.”

This article originally appeared in the Independent Florida Alligator on Sept. 28.