Jessamen Dunker‘s spring break wasn’t full of sand and surf. The Boynton Beach offensive lineman used his time to check out three schools.
Dunker made his way north to look at Florida, Auburn and Georgia.
“All the schools were great,” Dunker said. “They all showed me a good time.”
Dunker’s trip to Athens, Ga., was his first there and he came away impressed with what Georgia had to offer. The things that stuck out to him were the academics, the campus look and environment, the dorms and the football facilities.
The 6-foot-6, 315-pound lineman said he had a good visit with Georgia’s coaches and said he’d like to return to Athens for an official visit.
“Most of all, if I do commit there (it is) a place I could call home,” Dunker said of Athens.
Dunker’s trip to Auburn, however, wasn’t what he was expecting at first. With most of the students off on their own spring break, Dunker said his trip didn’t “pop” at first.
Being on an almost empty campus didin’t excite Dunker in the beginning, but he enjoyed his time with Auburn’s coaches and got to learn a little more about the Tigers’ history.
“Obviously, they are the national champs, so that’s a plus,” he said. “I loved the stadium and the locker rooms and it has a tradition and the rivalry between them and Alabama is crazy.”
Finally, Dunker also checked out Florida. It wasn’t his first time he’d been to Gainesville and there wasn’t much more the Gators’ staff could show him that he hadn’t already seen.
Dunker said he spent his time checking out the facilities more and speaking with wide receivers coach Aubrey Hill, who is in charge of his recruitment and has developed the strongest coaching relationship with him.
Dunker reiterated Florida is still his leader. Factors standing out to him about Florida are atmosphere, fan support and his relationship with the Gator coaches, especially Hill.
After his recent travels, Dunker now has his list of top-five schools. Florida leads with Georgia, Auburn, Alabama and LSU slightly behind. The plan is for Dunker to visit all five schools this summer and for his officials this fall before he makes his January decision.
Come to Gainesville, Mr. Dunker. We are in desperate need of quality linemen in this coming class.
Go Gators!
A school with great academics that’s not far from home and the opportunity to play early….What part of “no brainer” does this young man not understand?
Take your visit, Mr Dunker!…Its part of the process, and it’ll help you decide what is best for you! Enjoy the time! CYA in February!
He will definitely have the opportunity for some early playing time. I hope he takes his time and makes the best decision for him and his family. Hopefully for us Gator fans, that decision will be going to Gainesville!!
Looks like he just became a GATOR!
Looks like ATL JOHN convinced him. Dunker is a Gator. Btw, despite our rivals’ claims of UF’s “demise”, UF is presently sitting with the #1 recruiting class for 2012 right now. That’s two linemen in this class so far, one on each side of the LOS.
Yeah, I can see where going to Auburn would be a turnoff especially with truckloads of peanut farmers armed with shotguns cruising the streets around Toomers Corner on guard for more tree killers from the evil nation to the west.
have you seen FSU’s class? how can you say something so outlandish. FSU and Alabama have better classes at this point
Well, it was nice before the defensive little rival trolls showed up.
Hey Ed,
What has become of the stud linebacker who transfered in and red-shirted? I forget his name, but he’s supposed to make an impact.
Forgot to add he spent one year at U of Calfornia.
Thanks
@Bo —
His name is Chris Martin. He was a five-star recruit rated by Rivals.com as the No. 2 Defensive End in the nation, second only to Ronald Powell. Meyer was considering him as a Linebacker.
An interesting factoid: his being at UF may be “fate” smiling upon him. He originally committed to Notre Dame, but decommitted when Charlie Weis left. He didn’t feel comfortable at U.Cal. from the word go, but he remembered his fond relationship with Meyer developed during the recruiting process and decided to “follow his heart” to Gatortown.
Then, no doubt to Martin’s dismay, Meyer leaves(!),… but low and behold – as fate would have it – his first Coach of choice, Charlie Weis, ends up in G’ville TOO (though there’ll be less personal interaction, perhaps, due to Weis’ Offensive responsibilities)!
Still, though,… pretty cool turn of events (for both of them!)!
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IGTBAG!
Ciao
PS: Also, I think he (Chris Martin) only attended the summer session at U.Cal. before transferring to UF in the subsequent Fall semester of 2010.
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IGTBAG!
Adieu
DT from Stone Mountain, Ga. Mann commits today. Guess FSU and Bama are still ahead of us though. 😉 Btw, I went over to an FSu board and the only FSU commit ranked was 5 star Mario Edwards’ son (and that’s only because Warchant’s Dot.com has leverage onb star rank). He’s the same goober who pushed 4* Gator defector Nick Waisome up to a 5* a few days after he committed to FSU.