Desert Hills (Saint George, Utah) offensive tackle Simona Fuailetolo might be the next diamond in the rough discovered by Florida and Billy Napier’s coaching staff.
The unranked offensive lineman confirmed he’d picked up his first Power Four offer from the Gators on Monday after speaking with position coach John Decoster.
“They kind of hit me up on the phone, and then next thing I knew I had an offer,” Fuailetolo told Blake Alderman of Swamp247. “It was all kind of quick, but Coach Decoster said he had already been doing his research. He’s called and talked with my head coach and asked him about me, and reviewed my film.”
Both parties are still making introductions, but the Gators figure to make a strong push for the relatively unknown big man. Fuailetolo stands at 6-foot-6-inches and 290 pounds, and Decoster said he has “God-given talent.” Size and talent are two major ingredients for creating a successful SEC lineman.
After an amazing phone call with @BallCoach_D I am extremely grateful and blessed to say that I have received my 6th D1 offer from the University Of Florida! 🐊🐊 @GatorsFB @BossSkilllz @deserthillsfb #AllGloryToGod #GoGators pic.twitter.com/831KHqNVHA
— Simona Fuailetolo (@SimonFuailetolo) September 10, 2024
Of course, Florida is in a position of need at offensive line with zero players from the position group under commitment from the class of 2025. Florida has had its fair share of decent to great linemen in recent years — O’Cyrus Torrence in Year 1 under Billy Napier and Jake Slaughter is proving to be a more-than-capable center with the current iteration of the team — but it’s been a while since UF has landed a big-name O-lineman from the high school ranks.
The next step is getting Fuailetolo on campus. He has plans to visit Utah State for an official visit in November, but a trip to The Swamp might be the next one added to his schedule.
“I let them know I would love to come for a game, but no official dates or unofficial visits were discussed,” he said. “We haven’t talked about any specific games to be at. We just mentioned that we would love to make it down for a game. We will work on that.”
Recruiting Summary
Fuailetolo is an unranked recruit on every platform, but a Power Four offer can change that in a hurry, especially if the evaluation comes from his senior-year tape. There’s also a chance he remains unranked, though, with just 3-5 months left in the recruiting cycle.
On3’s recruiting prediction machine favors Utah Tech to land a commitment from Fuailetolo, with 22.2% odds, followed by Southern Utah (19.4%), Weber State (16.7%) and Utah State (13.9%).
Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=66e58e1e76da4ee7ae7b11a210efca38&url=https%3A%2F%2Fgatorswire.usatoday.com%2F2024%2F09%2F14%2Fflorida-football-recruiting-simona-fuailetolo-offer%2F&c=7124591384391386636&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-09-14 01:57:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.