Florida receiver commit Derrick Dillon dazzled at Saturday’s summer camp session, blowing by corners with his 4.4 speed and remarkable agility.
Afterward, the UF coaches weren’t shy about how much they loved him.
“Most of them were telling me they wish I could graduate now and play this season,” he said. “I had a lot of fun today. I got to see all the coaches again and run around a little bit. It showed me what I’m going to be getting for the next four years.”
The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder from Franklinton (La.) Pine enjoyed working with new receivers coach Chris Leak and seemed happy with the hire.
“He was a real good dude,” Dillon said. “He showed me a lot of stuff I need to work on. It’s going to be great getting coached by him when I get here.”
This weekend was Dillon’s first trip to Gainesville since the spring game and his commitment to the Gators two weeks ago. He’s glad to have his recruiting process over with.
“I just couldn’t wait anymore,” Dillon said of his decision. “It was my favorite school, and I liked it better than all the others recruiting me. I just wanted to come here. It’s nice to have it all off shoulders and just be able to talk to one coach (primary recruiter Derek Lewis).”
Once rated a three-star prospect by most, Dillon is now four-stars on every site except Rivals and was invited to The Opening combine Thursday.
“That meant a lot to me,” he said of the invite. “That was one of my main goals this summer. I’m going to show people that I can do everything any other top receiver can do.”
Dillon has already shown the UF coaching staff, and he’s looking forward to showing Gator fans in 2015.
“They can expect a lot of big things from me,” he said. “I’m going to make a lot of big plays and get Florida back to where it used to be.”
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I like him!!
YES!! This is the kind of man we need to turn this program around. Really good player right here! Cant wait! like Coach said i wish he could graduate now! haha. Im very confident that Coach Boom will turn this around he is one of the brightest up and coming coaches out there. You give the GREAT Saban a 3rd string QB with 12 starters out for the year and there noway Saban could win any more than 6 games. I really do believe Florida will surprise a lot people this year. They may not win the east but it will set up a good foundation to build the program back to where it should be brick by brick……
unfortuantely this is one guy that if Muschamp is fired will almost definitely go elsewhere
Great recruiting momentum! Kids are not shying away from competition and most are talking about the education they’ll receive. It’s great to be a Florida Gator!
Wait, I thought the hiring of Chris Leak was the end of the world! It appears that nothing has changed with the guys we are recruiting. Could it be that some over-reacted, again?
This kid is going to be special. Gotta love his confidence.
Dillon has blown away a lot of experts at the camps he has gone to and will probably jump way up in the rankings after this summer….Most experts are shocked that besides his speed and unbelievable cutting ability he is running great routes despite NOT playing WR much. Some of the best CB prospects are not able to cover him at camps……Go Gators.
I remind all of you again that comments need to be on-topic and not abusive. Calling other posters clueless or commenting on how many games Florida needs to win this season has nothing to do with the content of this story. I hate deleting posts and monitoring you guys but I’ve been asked to keep the comment sections of these blogs less hostile and confrontational. If you want to be critical aka “negative” in your comments, that’s fine. But with this story, for example, it needs to relate to Dillon, Leak, WR recruiting, WR play, etc. I wrote a story yesterday morning that touched on Muschamp’s future. If you feel like posting about that, by all means go leave your comment: http://recruiting.blogs.gatorsports.com/18702/thomas-not-concerned-about-muschamps-future/
I don’t care if Dillon gets more stars, the only thing that matters is that the coaches think he is good enough to play and possibly become a play maker for the Gators. Solomon Patton was the best playmaker last year, but he wasn’t able to make big plays against the good team Florida played. His kickoff return against Missouri was huge and if the defense had made a stop afterwards, it may have been a game changer. The point is that UF desperately needs a guy that can make someone miss on a consistent basis. Hopefully someone can do that this year and we don’t have to wait for Dillon to arrive in 2015. This new offensive scheme is dependent on at least one guy who can take a short pass, make someone miss, and then have a big play. I consider a big play to be longer than 20 yards. Roper had a guy at Duke in Crowder, the question is whether UF has anyone who can do the same on campus now?
Great post, ntcrze.
I still don’t know about the Leak hire for WR’s, but when you consider the bizarre situation with Phillips, the timing of his resignation caught everyone off guard.
Leak still has to prove to me he’s a sound WR’s coach, but I’m behind him all the way. Hope he proves to be a good one.
In regards to playmakers taking a short pass all the way, it really has more to do with route design and spacing. We have been poor in both regards for years. We have had guys and do have guys this year who can and will score from anywhere on the field. This was all on Pease and Weis.
Ntcrze……Robinson was making plays in spring practice, but we did not see it much in the spring game. Pittman could be a horse in the slot, as he is a big receiver who could make YAC plays. But Robinson is the guy that has to step up at WR this year. He is too talented not to perform at a higher level. But it all starts with the offensive line making their blocks consistently, especially on 3rd down, passing plays; and the QB (Driskel) somehow learning to set up quickly, make quick reads and decisions, and getting rid of the ball to Robinson, Pittman, Dunbar, Fulwood, Bailey, and Thompson quickly and accurately. I have not seen that kind of skill level from Driskel yet. Maybe this year. Sure hope so.
Tampa Gator nailed it……….
GUYS I TRULY THINK OUR WR’S ARE A VERY GOOD BUNCH AND ARE VERY TALENTED. I THINK THE SYSTEM CHANGE WILL BE THE DETERMINING FACTOR AS TO HOW THIS TEAM PERFORMS THIS YEAR ALONG WITH THE WILD CARD OFFENSIVE LINE. IM NO JEFF DRISKEL FAN BUT IF HE HAS IMPROVED A LITTLE BIT IN HIS DECISION MAKING AND GETTING THE BALL OUT TO THE RECEIVERS, OFFENSIVELY WE WILL BE A MUCH IMPROVED TEAM. I DIDNT BUY THAT STORY LAST YEAR ABOUT THE RECEIVERS BEING THE PROBLEM AND I DONT BUY IT NOW. THE O-LINE AND DRISKEL (0R WHOEVER IS AT QB) WILL BE A BIG FACTOR AS TO HOW THIS SEASON ENDS UP. GO GATORS!!!!
Great pickup. That makes Florida 2 for 2 wehn it comes to WRs invited to the Opening this summer. Great job Champ and Roper.
Drew who hired Pease,Weis, and Joker? The same guy who hired Roper
As to Leak’s ability to be a coach, or a receivers coach; please continue to ignore or disbelieve what Muschamp and Roper say about Chris. Also totally ignore what the receivers have said about him,,,, cause hey, what do any of them know about football… The same goes for Driskel, just ignore what his coaches and his teammates say about him too. (keee-rist!)
As far as the Roper hire Drew- Muschamp hired Weis, Joker, Pease, Aubrey and I could name more. No reason unfortunately to be overly optimistic about the Roper hire.
Will Dillon be an early enrollee ? This guy reminds me of a cross between Chris Rainey and Andre Debose.
As far as the passing game goes next year, we will see a lot of quick read run/pass options. Hopefully this ill keep us out of a lot of third and longs. Starting offensive line will be pretty good and benefit from more moving protection and zone blocking schemes but there is almost no experience among the backups.
@Don- yeah, there’s no reason at all to be optimistic……other than the FACT that EVERY offensive recruit that has committed to the 2015 class and every recruit hat has us on their radar has mentioned that Roper had or will have an impact on their decision…..as well as a SEASONED senior transfer TE who will be a starter from his 1st day on the team….Or it could be that he is a proven producer at OC……No, no reason at all to be optimistic.
Drew all the recruits in the past said the same thing about pease weis and joker.
Different system that fits the players……nice try though…..and still doesn’t explain the stud TE. Please try again.
Yeah he is more proven than Weis.
Biggest difference is that Weis and to some degree Peases systems relied on prototypical pocket passers that threw into pinpoint windows. These systems work better in the NFL than they do in CFB unless you have a great throwing QB who is working behind a stud offensive line with power RB’s to boot…..See Bama and FSU in the last couple of years,…..Their weaknesses as college OC’s were that their systems did not take into consideration weaknesses at crucial positions.We would have been better suited running out of a wishbone or veer with the hodge podge of offensive players we had during the last 3 years as primitive as it sounds.