Florida checks in on Alabama duo

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With just a few days this week to recruit before the next "live" AAU weekend, Florida head coach Billy Donovan and assistants Rashon Burno and Anthony Grant traveled to Alabama to check out a five-star swingman in the 2016 class and a fast rising power forward in the 2017 class.

Florida is one of six schools - Kentucky, Arizona, Michigan State, Auburn and Georgia are the others - that will go on in-home visits with Joshua Langford. Arizona and Kentucky offered Langford, considered the No. 1 player in Alabama, during their visits.

Langford, who attends Madison Academy in Madison (AL) helped lead his high school team to the 3A state championship, was named the Gatorade Alabama player of the year, the Alabama Class 3A player of the year, and was the runner-up for Mr. Basketball. At the adidas Gauntlet event during the first evaluation period April 10-12 in Dallas, Langford averaged 22.3 points per game for the 2-2 Celtics, including a game-high 26 points against Indiana Elite.

The 6-foot-6, 200-pounder holds 19 offers and is currently ranked No. 17 in the Rivals150 for the class of 2016. ITG sees his recruitment playing out for another twelve months before there's a school announcement.

While in Alabama, the Gators coaches stopped by Pelham High School to watch sophomore Alex Reese go through a workout with his teammates. The young power forward, Reese won't turn 16 until late May, had no idea the Gators were coming to watch him until a teammate tapped him on the shoulder and told him coach Donovan was there.

"I looked over towards the door and they were there, it was really unexpected" said Reese. "I was excited, I've always liked Florida basketball. It was real shocking." Also in the gym observing the workout was Alabama-Birmingham assistant coach Jeff Wulbrun.

Per NCAA rules, the coaches are not permitted to have off campus contact with members of the class of 2017 until midnight on June 15. So the Gators coaches watched the workout and left without speaking to Reese, a 6-foot-9, 200 pound stretch four man, who really shoots it well and with range.

Reese is no stranger to newly hired Gators assistant Grant. He scored 27 points with 12 rebounds in Pelham's season opener last November with Grant in attendance. Grant offered Reese after the game.

Two weekends ago Reese shot 56. 6 percent (45.8 percent beyond the arc) while averaging 16 points, 5.3 rebounds in four games while playing up in age on the Southeast Elite 17U team. In one game, Reese scored 21 points in 21 minutes of playing time while connecting on 7 of 11 shots (5-6 3FG).

Chris Monroe, Southeast Elite Director and 17U head coach believes Reese has a high ceiling and advanced skill set for a young player.

"He shoots it really well, is versatile and is still 15 years old," Monroe said. "He needs to add weight to play down low but you can see Alex you can see he has a tremendous amount of upside. He's very humble, comes from a good family and is good in the classroom too."

According to coach Monroe, the Gators became interested in Reese after the sophomore's Pelham High School coach sent them game video.

Currently Reese, who was named 6A First Team All-State by the Alabama Sports Writers Association, holds offers from Alabama-Birmingham, Alabama and Auburn. His AAU team plays in Indianapolis this weekend and if he has a similar performance to the one he had in New Orleans, we expect three to four new offers could come next week.

Russ Wood is a contributing national basketball recruiting analyst for Inside the Gators & Rivals. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.