Four-star athlete Ray-Ray McCloud III of Tampa Sickles made a trip to Florida on Tuesday, his second this month.
He visited with Tampa Bay Tech athlete Deon Cain on March 12 and watched the Gators go through their own version of Pro Day for their players.
This time around, he was able to see them do much more.
“It was a good experience,” McCloud said. “It was my first Florida practice. So I’m glad I got to watch the players and see how the coaches coach. I learned a lot from them in meetings and then seeing it out there on the field.”
McCloud has also visited UF on several occasions in the past. What does he like about it that keeps bringing him back?
“A lot,” he said. “Coaches make you feel at home. It’s like I’m family. And I can tell they want to win by watching practice.”
In January, McCloud told The Sun Florida was primarily recruiting him at running back and he preferred to play that position.
Now McCloud says he’s unsure of what he wants to do, and UF is looking at him for both sides of the ball. He spent most of Wednesday’s practice paying attention the cornerbacks and secondary coach Travaris Robinson.
“The running back stuff I already know, so I was trying to learn new techniques at DB,” McCloud said. “It’s one of the hardest positions to play, and all I do is running back on my high school team. So I’m trying to pick up on things if (the corner position) is my choice going into college.”
The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder still took time to check out offensive coordinator Kurt Roper and the installation of his system.
“I like the new offense,” he said. “They’re putting their best players out in space, and it fits me.”
The Rivals250 member claims no leader and doesn’t have a timetable for his decision. He plans to visit Clemson and South Carolina next weekend.
Regardless of where he decides to go to school, if he can play DB at an elite level, I would suggest he switch to that position as it will be more lucrative in the NFL. Not to mention less wear and tear on his body.
no responses on the article- think everyone is zoned in on the sweet sixteen
For all the haters on here talking all that trash about Driskel
“But that’s a big, powerful, fast-twitch, natural throwing motion. He’s talented, folks. I mean we’re sitting here talking about a guy that’s really, really gifted. And his experience shows whenever we have conversations. He understands football. It’s not his first rodeo.
I mean when we start talking coverages or fronts and how pressures are mirroring each other, he understands. So his eyes end up in the right places a lot right now.”
-Kurt Roper on Jeff Driskel
This is exciting beyond anything else I’ve heard. Kurt Roper is coming in his first year with no preconceived bias or favorites or anything. He knows he has 1 year to produce on offense or everyone is gone. He’s a great experienced coach who knows QBs and has been around some truly great one. If he’s willing to say this about Driskel right now, I am sure that next season will be a great one!
I sure hope you’re right…
That_UAT_Guy: Good comments by Roper. Sadly, come game time, JD will be back to his old self.
By his old self do you mean winning games?? I see a lot of hate for Driskel, but when I think back on what he’s done here, I don’t see anything to hate. We’re 12-3 with him and 3-7 without. To me that speaks volumes. Also I go back to the 2012 season and see a guy who was young, but willing and able to do whatever it took to win. Whether that was getting out of the way and letting Gilly grind out the win, (LSU) whether it was putting the team on his back and running the ball (Vandy), or even if it meant passing the ball (FSU and Tennessee). He has shown he is an accurate QB with great running ability, who admittedly struggled reading defenses and with the mental side of the game, but still had all the potential in the world to be an elite QB. Then the 2013 season rolled around and folks only really saw 2 games of him and yet they want to crucify him for 2 games, one of which was a Toledo game that Muschamp wasn’t about to show anything for. They judge him and crucify him for the Miami game, but forget that all QBs have bad games and for having a bad game 300 yards ain’t bad. They forget that Driskel didn’t lose us that game. Plenty of people on offense not named Driskel fumbled. Plenty of people not named Driskel messed up. There were a few busted plays on defense that had we done what we should’ve could’ve prevented the loss. So people want to look at one “bad” game and tell me that’s a big enough sample to say he hasn’t improved at all or learned anything and that he’s hopeless??? Forgive me if I don’t buy that. Roper’s been around the game a lot longer than most of us have and he’s forgotten a lot more than I’m sure any of us will ever know. He knows the QB position and he’s coached some elite ones. If he says Driskel has the mental side of the game down and will be great then I’m much more likely to believe that over people who want to take one “bad” game and tell me it’s a big enough sample size to crucify the guy.
Jeff, is that you??
start one of the two freshman- using driskel again will cost muschamp his job. same thing happened with brantley not all the recruits with stars work out. where is the hoops recruiting board? Devin Robinson on board for next year
Any facts to back up the hate, Dan or Sharff or are you just here to waste our time?
UAT guy you are so right, can’t tell the difference between Driskel and Danny hesiman, and Tebow. Jeff has been average at best 1600 passing yds over a full season as a starter, people act like gator fans aren’t allowed to be critical, but being a Spurrier fan he taught me and most gator fans not to settle for average at any position 1600 passing yds is average at best, all gator starting QB,s except John Brantley since 1990 had more than that by game six
You can be critical, but have a reason to be critical! You and anyone else, have still never given me 1 bit of actual evidence, fact, or reasoning as to why Driskel is hopeless. Fans are critical when there’s something to be critical, of but they don’t just look and beg for reasons to hate a guy. You wanna know why I jump to Driskel’s defense so much? I still remember a young guy named Chris Leak. A guy who “fans” like you bashed and criticized and hated on his entire senior season. Screaming for Tebow to be the starter even as the wins piled up. And for no reason. I mean all the kid did was LEAD our team to a national title, playing great the whole season. I just don’t want to see another kid, WHO’S DONE MORE FOR THIS UNIVERSITY THAN YOU EVER WILL, go through the same thing. Only 1600 yards that’s a nice stat. Too bad it’s pulled completely out of context without a shred of analysis. It’s true 1600 yards isn’t impressive, but take a second and look at the whole picture. First of all Jeff was a sophomore, not an excuse, but still plenty of time to mature and develop. Secondly he played in an offense that as a whole wasn’t very good. No QB can do it on his own. Look at Peyto Manning in the Broncos. They brought him in expecting him to solve all their problems. It didn’t happen at all. Then when they brought in playmakers around him, they got a lot better. You can’t blame everything on Driskel. Second of all, he played under and OC that almost refused to throw the ball that year. 1600 yards may not be impressive, but Driskel can’t control how many chances he gets or how many times he gets a play that sets up a good deep pass. You wanna talk some stats, let’s talk some that actually mean something. Like the fact that Jeff is completing around 65% of his passes in limited action, including nearly 70% in 2013 where he only layed against Toledo, where we didn’t really show anything, a supposedly horrible game against Miami (which 300 yards for a horrible game is pretty damn good), then only like 1 drive against UT. Or how about the fact that since Driskel WON the starting job we’re 12-3 with him, and only 3-7 without him. How “average” is that? I implore you to go back and watch the UT and FSU games from 2012 where we actually asked him to throw the ball around a little bit. May not have had eye popping stats, but he made plays. And that’s where football is won, not n the stat line, but through players who make plays.
The whole team is hopeless as long as Muschamp is the coach!
Really Rhett, so that’s why we went 11-2 in 2012?? Give me a break! Muschamp is a great coach, who just hasn’t learned offense yet. The biggest thing to take away from this is next time we hire a coach, they need to have head coaching experience. Muschamp is a defensive genius, great recruiter, and a great leader. He just hasn’t had the experience on offense to hire the right guys or take over when they struggled. Now that he’s hired a proven guy in Roper everything will be just fine. Roper will get our offense on track and Muschamp will learn from Roper so that when Roper gest a head coaching job, Mushamp will know what he’s doing to hire another winner at OC. Don’t let one bad and historically unlucky season cloud your judgement.
UAT I need you to define the word great when it comes to coaches. Because if Muschamp is great whats Meyer, Spurrier, Saban, Pete Carroll etc. Also Chris Leak the SEC third all time passing yds leader you call Driskel with that guy give me a break. I really hope Jeff plays like Chris Leak this fall, but Jeff has to earn the praise of calling him with Chris Leak. of by the way Leak’s soph yr he went over 3,000 yds. Trust me though you may find a lot of fans rooting for the gators as much as myself, but you find one who roots for them stronger. Go Gators
Tell me what’s wrong with anything I said. He’s a great coach who needs to figure out offense. Well maybe that’d be better worded as he’ll be a great coach (understatement) as soon as he gets offense figured out. Because tell me with the defense and special teams (except last years special teams) we’ve had over the years, if our offense is even slightly above average, what’s stopping us from winning a national title in ’12 or even ’11. If we stay healthy and have a decent offense what keeps us from 10 wins last year? I don’t see anything stopping us. The only thing anyone can fault about these teams is offense. In every other area we’re great, better than great in most. Again like I said, the biggest thig to be taken away is next time we hire someone with head coaching experience. Obviously Muschamp didn’t know enough about offense to get the right guy at OC or take over when the wrong OCs couldn’t do it. It’s different this year though> This year we have one of the nation’s best in Roper. And if you think Muschamp won’t work hard to learn from Roper, you don’t know Muschamp. From this point on we’ll be just fine. And when Muschamp learns from Roper, I don’t see anything in his way rising to the top of the coaching ranks.
As far as Leak and Driskel, you’re just making my point. Leak did GREAT things and was a great player,and still people bashed him and called for Tebow. Driskel may not have 300 yards passing (can you blame him when the OCs hardly call pass plays), but he’s still done great things. We’re 12-3 with him, 3-7 without. I don’t know about you, but I judge great by wins and losses. I just don’t want another player to go through the same thing Leak did. All I’m asking is fans chill out, give Roper and Driskel time to work together, and root for your own freakin players and team instead of wating time bashing people who give their all, every bit of heart and soul, for this team and for us the fans. They’re grinding it out giving it all every day for these fans who are bashing them> It’s a disgrace. Just give Roper and Driskel time to work together and if he comes out and sucks (and I guarantee if you give him that time he won’t) then you can call for him to be benched. But don’t call to bench him when you haven’t even really seen him play for over a year and you don’t even know if his back ups are better!
As far as Meyer, he’s a great short term coach but a terrible long term coach. He knows what he’s doing on the field, and he’s a great recruiter, but his success has always been short term. Because he’s a terrible person. Look at Utah and UF. He plays favorites, he doesn’t discipline if he thinks that player can help him win, and he breeds bad attitudes. He rots teams from within. He did it at Utah, he did it here, and he’ll do it at Ohio if they keep him long enough. I guarantee history will remember Muschamp as a much much much better coach than Meyer. Heck I guarantee if history remembers Meyer at all it’ll only be for sanctions and problems
[…] Sickles athlete Ray-Ray McCloud III is making his third trip to UF this spring and will be on commitment watch. Linebacker Adonis Thomas (Lawrenceville, Ga./Central […]
[…] checking out a practice last time, the purpose of McCloud’s latest visit to UF was letting his mother see the […]
[…] The Under Armour All-American from Tampa Sickles has visited Gainesville four times since March. His most recent trip took place June 5, and he also came for the spring game and to watch a practice. […]