Can Obinna see himself at Florida?
Virginia Academy (Ashburn, Va.) center Ejike Obinna has two official visits completed and two more to go. The 6-foot-9, 230-pounder had been to Florida for an unofficial visit in June, but his official visit this weekend gave him a more thorough, up-close look at the program.
So much so that he came away raving about it.
“It was a good visit,” said Obinna who flew into Jacksonville on Friday evening and had dinner with the coaches at Maggiano's. “Saturday morning after breakfast we met with the Athletic Director (Jeremy Foley). He is a great man, he’s been there for many, many years. He told us what Florida is all about and I got into what he said. Then we met with the academic guy, I forgot his name but he had a lot of info that we needed to know about coming to Florida. Because Florida is a big school, which means you can have big classes, but they will help break it down for you too. After lunch I played with the players and watched practice and then met with the coaches. They showed a video presentation. Then we met with the strength coach. He said it was about the individual and what you need. He showed us videos of what they do, how they do it and how it helps you as a player. Then we met the nutrition lady and she talked about what you eat is important to help your game and for your body. We went to the football game but it rained so we hanged out. Sunday morning we had breakfast at Coach (Mike) White’s house.”
Obinna spent time with the entire team, but he was hosted by redshirt junior John Egbunu, a fellow Nigerian and someone who plays the position Obinna is being recruited for.
The recruiting pitch from the Florida coaches was a familiar one.
“That they want me, that they need me and if I say that I’m coming to Florida they will cancel every other visit that they have at my position,” said Obinna. “I knew Coach White liked me from the first time he saw me play because I didn’t have my best game but through the negatives he saw positives so that he knew I was the kind of guy that he wants.”
The three-star center has been insistent that he will not make a decision until all of his visits are completed so the Gators did not push for a commitment. Something that he appreciated.
“No,” Obinna said when asked if the Gators asked for a commitment. “But I know that they want me. They didn’t put any pressure on me to commit because the answer right now is no because I still have two more visits to go. It’s a hard decision for me. We’ll see after the two other visits at the end of this month.”
Obinna, has visited Clemson and now Florida. He will take the ACT this Saturday then visit Oklahoma September 16 and Vanderbilt September 23.
Can Obinna see himself at Florida?
“Yes, I can. Yeah,” was his reply.
Russ Wood is a contributing national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com and Inside The Gators. You can click here to follow him on Twitter