Florida will have one last chance to woo four-star defensive end DeMarcus Walker this Friday.
The Jacksonville Sandalwood star and his coach, Adam Geis, are traveling to Gainesville for the day to meet with UF coach Will Muschamp and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn.
It will be Walker’s final trip to UF before making his Aug. 3 commitment, which is expected to be between Florida, Alabama, Auburn and Clemson. Florida State, LSU, Tennessee and USC round out his top eight.
The Tide are the odds-on favorite to land the ESPN150 member, whose last two visits to Tuscaloosa have produced the same result — a decision date.
After nearly pulling the trigger for the Gators at the Orange & Blue Debut on April 7, Walker attended Alabama’s annual A-Day the next weekend and set a May 24 announcement immediately afterward.
It’s been widely reported that Walker was going to choose Alabama on that day, but he postponed his decision after developing a desire to take more visits.
Following a summer tour that included stops in Auburn, Clemson and Tennessee, Walker visited Alabama again on June 16 and tweeted later in the day that he would be committing on Aug. 3.
Until that time comes, the 6-foot-4, 276-pounder plans to take in Tennessee again as well as FSU, LSU and USC. He will also make one more trip to Tuscaloosa with his father on July 15.
While all signs seem to point to Alabama, the Gators do have one thing going for themselves — ‘The Fantastic Four.’
Comprised of his close friends and fellow Jacksonville products Ahmad Fulwood, Daniel McMillan and Nick Washington, Walker is the only member not committed to UF.
At Florida’s spring game, Walker said those three will be a “real big factor” in his decision because he wants to keep the crew together.
Since then, however, Walker has become enamored with Alabama coach Nick Saban and his 3-4 defensive scheme. Although the friendships he has at UF hold some weight, Florida’s chances will ultimately come down to the pitches Muschamp and Quinn make Friday.
walker’s an alabama lock—they send NFL d-linemen and LBs to the nfl, which is all the recruits care about.
so does FL.
So does Florida! Now go back to your Tide sites.
Doesn’t sound too good!
‘The Fantastic Four’
All four will have a chance to start as soon as they walk on campus. Why not come here together and win a championship together?
would love to have walker, but it seems like bama has the upper hand.
Yeah AlaScama sends players to the NFL to get cut.
UF creates NFL players.
Go back to your toilet bowl trailer ridden state Scammer, oh and Roll on Toilet Paper.
Go Gators
Sell him on the fact he was our #1 guy… Bama went harder after ndkemche- worth a shot! Also, it seems “sabans style” is for the dline to keep blockers off of lbs – our dline MADE PLAYS last year- of Bama’s dline since saban who other than Marcell dareus has really been a playmaker?
Best chance is selling him on the fantastic four and how bad we need him … but it sounds like his heart is in Tuscalooser.
Love to have him here.
Doesn’t hurt to try to sway him. If he picks Bama, then that’s the nature of the game, but showing recruits we will go after them if important, whether or not they’re committed or heavily leaning elsewhere, or have we forgotten about the 5* DE/LB we stole from FSU last class?
Jeez, a Jax guy.
I can deal with the Bama kid who goes there even when his position is stacked, since he grew up rooting for them. But a Jax kid should be Gator/Dawg/Nole maybe Cane before Bammer. Couple that with UF having earlier playing time AND all his friends coming here, and we will KNOW Bammer is paying him off if he chooses them. Nothing else makes sense.
@gators79, real classy comments there sport! @Kyle…you ought to remember Terrence Cody? You WILL remember Jessie Williams after this year. I know it’s hard, but you guys are showing your envy of the Tides success. Stay tuned, there’s much more to come! RTR
And of course your comments Ricky Jordan are all “pure class” riiiiight
Ricky Jordan,
we’ve had that same success at UF. Tide not the first and will not be the last. We all send big boys to the NFL. They have to fill that connection.
I’m like Gator Todd on this one, I can never picture our better athletes leaving the state to go and (most of them) sit the bench because a kid from the state of Alabama plays ahead of them. I don’t THINK there is a Large number of athletes that leave the state, go to Bama and become stars. I know most people will IMMEDIATELY think of KING Richardson. He was a Beast and could have gone to ole Miss or Vandy and still would have been a top 5 pick. It’s beyond me that home (STATE) pride does not drive some of these guys to stay at home and compete and win championships here. Case in point the two kids we lost to SoCal this past recruiting season, I know we (GATORS) will win a Championship before SoCal. And our system and team was right for both of them.
I agree with CREEKGATOR. I wish we could somehow keep the Fla guys in our state. I can’t stand losing any of these young guys to Ala. I can’t stand Saban, to me he is SLIMY. Any other school or coach other than Saban/Ala. GO GATORS.
I do not see why anyone would want to play for Saban. To me, seeing him on the sidelines, makes me think of a pompus, stuck up ?’/?(*. He seems so distant away from his players and coaching staff. He makes me think of a little Napolean on the sideline. I would probably respect Alabama a little bit if SLIMY Saban wasn’t there. Whay student/athlletes see in him, I do not know.
@rickyjordan up yours you two bit troll.
You have moobs like MtCody
Go Gators.
Randy you missed my point- I even threw the keyword “playmaker” in there… I know mt Cody’s worth he was awesome but the scheme isn’t conducive for DL’s to “make plays” he had 10.5 TFL in two years, jay Howard had 10 in just last year. And now let me take this further, you mentioned (ready for play) JUCO’s. Did Bama develop them?
Excuse my typo/autocorrect Ricky
Both Bama and UF have a stellar history with Dlinemen in the NFL. The difference is they earn a lot more money while at Bama.
Or maybe I should say “They become a lot more enamored with Saban” while at Bama.
Well…..I hope if he commits to Florida……he plans to complete his studies while in high school. It surely looks like the Gators are going to be in need of some DL…..with Fowler, Bullard, and Phillips currently not qualified.
Also…..I thought recruits that cannot qualify at U of F…..decommit and commit to the Noles. Not the other way around.
This usually brings out the typical derision from the ‘real Gators’ but I have said it before and will now say it again: WM is doing the best he can. But do not forget (a) he inherited a bad situation, (b) his experience as HC is one year–that’s it, (c) with instability in his staff, (d) his one year produced the worst win-loss record in 30 years. There is only ONE THING that counts and that is WINS on the field. I could give a ‘rats a–‘ about ‘star-power’ and where we rate in recruiting (for heaven sakes!!). WIN GAMES ON THE FIELD!!
The Gators will be better this year for several reasons. 1) Better OL coach 2) Better OC 3) better defensive awareness 4) better strength and conditioning 5) Players recruited for the coach’s style of play 6) Less trouble making players. 7) More depth at critical positions. 8) Coach Champ understanding more of what it takes to be a HBC. 9) Better player development 10) Overall experience by the whole team and staff. The schedule is tough. We will need good consistent quarterback play which will determine how many games we win this year. I have faith in OC to move the ball and give our defense the rest it will need to play at a high level for 4 quarters. We have a good team. GO GATORS!!!
TAMPA, there is no proof yet that our three linemen Bullard, Folwer, and Phillips aren’t qualified, but that it’s just timing problems mostly. BUllard and Fowler are the ones I want most here now, but Phillips is also a grade #1 beast on the interior too. Lots of time to deal with this so lets hope they get all the required stuff straightened out.
I agree that we will have a better TEAM this year. I think that both the QB’s have a better feel for the high level game, though from what was experienced last year I would hang my hat on Brissett (just from the experience point of view), but I’m not Coach Pease and I know he has a handle on this thing. The Offense is going to be vastly improved (most of you know I had no confidence in Brantley). But if those three DL do get in school on Monday or Tuesday, we will be even better, because Our defense will HELP the HELL out of our OFFENSE. There were good last year but gave out of gas at the end of critical games because they were on the field TOOOO much! GO GATORS!!!!
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