Road Trip: Gainesville, FL

This Saturday SoFLAfootball traveled to Gainesville, Florida to check out the University of Florida campus and see the Gators battle the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. The match-up brought back former Gator player and coach, now current Gamecock coach Steve Spurrier.

Gainesville is located approximately 115 miles north of Orlando and 65 miles southwest of Jacksonville. The beautiful campus and town certainly come alive on game day. It seems every nook on campus is filled with tailgaters partying the morning of kick-off. A couple hours before kick-off the crowd clamors towards the north end of the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, also known as The Swamp, for a chance to slap hands with their Gators as the players and coaches take part in what is called the Gator Walk.

The team is brought to the stadium from the team hotel by charter buses, where they are dropped off outside the stadium’s north side. They walk through a gauntlet of screaming, cheering fans into the stadium. Once in the stadium’s north concourse, it’s down the lower level of seats onto the field. They players and coaches file the length of the field to the south end of the stadium where the team’s locker room is located. The south side of the stadium is where the recently renovated weight and training rooms are also located.

The Swamp holds just over 90,000 raucous fans and they were in full affect Saturday. The fans certainly play a part into the recruiting efforts of the Gators. They create such a great game day atmosphere that recruits certainly take notice of. The recruiting efforts by the Gator staff are certainly being felt in South Florida.

They have gotten commitments from Pahokee wide receiver Nu’Keese Richardson along with 2010 prospects Matt Elam of Dwyer and Demar Dorsey of Boyd Anderson. The Gators also look to be in good position to land 2009 athlete Denard Robinson, 2010 wide receiver Chris Dunkley and 2010 tight end Gerald Christian.

The game Saturday was also seen by some of the best prospects in South Florida. The best cornerback in the state of Florida, Jayron Hosley from Delray Beach Atlantic, was there to take in the action. Notre Dame commit, punter Ben Turk from St. Thomas Aquinas was also in attendance. 2010 prospects Cassius McDowell (RB Deerfield), Lynden Trail (DE Booker T. Washington), and Quinton Dunbar (WR Booker T. Washington) were also seen in the crowd.

The Florida Gators always have some success landing South Florida prospects especially kids from the Muck, but 2010 could be huge year for the Gators in South Florida. The class is absolutely loaded and the Miami Hurricanes, who usually rule the roost in Dade and Broward counties, will not be able to take all the premier recruits. The Gators certainly have started on the right foot in South Florida by landing Elam, who many consider the best player in the state of Florida for his class.