Floyd Dismisses Internet Rumor:
The Florida Gators are in the midst of one of the greatest recruiting runs in recent history. The Gators have landed 15 high school All American players for the class of 2010 and more are on the way.
One of the most recent players to announce his intentions to play for head coach Urban Meyer is five star defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd. The 6'3 and 310-pound Floyd from Philadelphia (PA) George Washington high school is one of the most dominating defensive tackle prospects in the country. The nation's third ranked defensive tackle announced his decision to play for the Gators on January 9th as did defensive end Ronald Powell and Matt Elam. Powell could be the Nation's overall top ranked player and Elam is the nation's top ranked safety, both are five star players.
Scott Hood's Carolina Corner quoted Floyd's high school coaches stating why the big defensive tackle picked the Gators. The news has quickly spread to Floyd who told FightinGators.Com moments ago this is not the case. These are the quotes in question which are not attributed to anyone specifically but instead a group of people namely Sharrif Floyd's high school coaches.
“Sharrif was really confused and put a call into Coach Meyer. When they spoke Coach Meyer told him that he had a ‘dream’ the night before, and that Coach Meyer saw himself on the sideline coaching Sharrif. Told him that is was a "message from God that I should come back and coach, as I guess if it’s my time to die, I'd rather die on the sidelines coaching you than anywhere else in the world. Sharrif talked to us the next day and said Ohio State is great and all, but Coach Meyer said he would DIE for me. That's pretty intense. From that day on Sharrif mainly kept to himself. But that was the turning point in my eyes."
I thought it was very telling that the names of the high school coaches were never mentioned and I believe the reason is simple, it was never said. Floyd believes he knows where these mysterious quotes came from and had this to say about that and his thoughts on being a Gator.
"I read those comments and when I did I immediately spoke with my head coach Ron Cohen. Coach Cohen told me that it was not true at all and nothing like that was ever said. I immediately called Urban Meyer to let him know what was being said on the internet. I wanted to let everyone know that this is total and false information. I never said that to my coach because it did not happen and my coach never said that to anyone. I am going to the University of Florida because that is where I want to go. I have a great relationship with Urban Meyer and I am a Gator. A lot of schools tried to hit me with the religion pitch but not Florida, not at all and that's how it is and I am not going to change my mind. I have talked to a bunch of my friends and they think this is something that started on one of the Ohio State boards. People are trying to get back at me for not going to Ohio State and not going to their team but I know what I am and that is a Florida Gator."
