With Junior Day in the rearview, Florida won’t have many more visitors coming to campus until spring practice starts on March 13.
However, UF has stayed busy on the recruiting trail by handing out several offers throughout February.
The most notable recruit to get the call from the Gators this week was running back Joe Mixon (Oakley, Calif./Freedom), who is a Rivals100 member. Rivals.com ranks him as the nation’s No. 82 overall prospect and ninth at his position.
Florida running backs coach Brian White has successfully recruited California before, but the Gators haven’t signee a player from the state since 2010. White is looking to work his west coast magic again with Mixon.
“Coach White from Florida called and offered me on Tuesday,” Mixon said. “He said I’ve always been on their radar and they went crazy after watching my highlights. He told me I’m big-time player and I could do damage in their offense. I’m hoping I can get down there and have a chance to do that.”
Mixon began following Florida football during its 2006 national championship season.
“I’ve been watching the Gators since Tim Tebow got there and now I keep up with their team every year,” Mixon said. “I watched their win over LSU (in 2012) and I liked how Mike Gillislee was used. They definitely put talent on the field, and they have a great coaching staff as well as academic program. So I’m very excited that I get the chance to be recruited by Florida.”
Mixon currently has 37 offers and is being recruiting hardest by Cal and Washington. He would like to see UF pick up its pursuit as promised.
“Coach White said they’re going to start recruiting me hard, so I’m hoping they stick to what they’re saying so I can see me what they have to offer. If they end up being one of my schools, I will definitely take an official visit down there,” Mixon said.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder plans to make a decision sometime after his senior season and claims distance isn’t a factor at all.
“I don’t care where I have to go,” Mixon said. “I just want to play with the best of the best and on whatever team gives me an opportunity.”
As a junior, Mixon finished with 1,443 rushing yards, 383 receiving yards and 30 total touchdowns. To view his highlights, click HERE.
Zach, if Florida is an official does that mean they get to foot his airfare? How does that work?
Kinda’ hard to tell just how good he is. I was halfway into his tape before I saw a defender even close to him. Either his team is full of outstanding blockers or he was playing some pretty weak competition. He certainly ran well in the open field…which was all he seemed to have in front of him. Good size and speed.
I really wish we would quit recruiting out of California. The players we recruit from there almost always sign somewhere else and even if they sign with Florida, they do not seem to pan out to be the player they were supposed to be. (Josh Portis, Josh Shaw, Carl Moore)The closest thing to a star we have gotten from California is Ronald Powell but even he hasn’t produced to the level you would hope the #1 high school player in the country would. It takes a lot of time for the coaches to visit a player in California. While they are visiting this kid, they could be visiting a dozen in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, etc.
Can someone please explain to me what a lot of these guys mean when they say they want to be “recruited hard”? Does that mean you want tons of mail, text and phone calls. I would honestly think getting an offer would be what I need. Imagine 37 offers and all the baggage associated with 37 schools calling/texting non-stop.
LT, doesnt mean this kid will follow…I would like to see him get bigger. I want to see some tanks in the backfield. We need some real bruisers…you know, they take 3-4 defenders to pull them down….
@ LT you make it sound like the coaches arent pursing kids in those states..The consensus number 1 recruit is in VA thats about 800 miles away should they not attempt to get him? Uf isnt a small school they have plenty of resources to cast a wide net. Most of the gators players come from “SEC country” not like they recruit 10 cali players a year. if they see something in this kid hopefully he will pan out.
LT, coach should leave no stone unturned. We have Plenty of players from right here in the state of FLORIDA that didn’t pan out to be what many thought they would be as well. That’s why you have to recruit so many players, some are not going to be what you thought they would be. It’s not because they are from California, Look at all the GREAT athletes that have come from that state. Be a little more open minded! GO GATORS!!!!
Sounds a like a good, smart kid.
Hope we can sway him from the left coast.
Btw, if he’s 195 lbs. and 6-2, that’s pretty big for a kid who hasn’t even played his senior season in HS yet. With that height, he could easily be 205 – 210 lbs. by the end of his senior hs year, and once in college, could be 215 by his sophomore year. That’s good sized.
Ton of speed for his size. Moves like a 5’9 shifty guy with Demps type speed. Maybe WR will better suit him long term.
He sounds like a very good prospect, as Gator Todd said by the time he hits the weight room and eat a couple of these “southern” meals he’s going to be plenty big enough. His sophomore is is when we will need an addition to the RB corp. GO GATORS!!!!
Can someone explain why we don’t recruit Texas?
You’d thnk after the time Coach Boom spent there he would have some relationships with coaches he could exploit. As weak as UT is we should be able to get some talent from there. Did WM make a deal to stay away from TX when he left?
I highly doubt there is any deal to stay out of Texas. I think Will feels like Texas is sewn up already, which is BS. We need to look everywhere. If you can go to Cali, you can go to Tx.
@ Dan Dixon & OnecoGuy, If we can do in Florida what Texas and LSU does in their states we wouldn’t need to go to Texas. And I think that is Muschamps goal. There are some plenty good players in Texas, but Not a huge number of GREAT ones usually Texas gets those. But I don’t think Champ is ignoring Texas, if something is there that attrack his attention Im sure someone if not Champ will be landing a plane in the great state of Texas. Who in particular are you thinking should be targeted or are you just assuming that he is not looking at Texas because you have not seen any evidence of Texas recruiting? Go GATORS!!!!
[…] sign for the Gators in their recruitment of Mixon, who was offered by Florida in Febuary and spoke highly of the school. However, the 6-foot-2, 207-pounder did not include UF among in his list of favorites July 1. But a […]