Gators In Top 5 For Kenny Ingram

Florida head coach Ron Zook and the rest of the Florida Gators coaching staff might be in line to sign two Ingrams in the class of 2004. Cornelius Ingram from Hawthorne (Fla.) recently told InsidetheGators.net that the Gators were the team to beat and Kenny Ingram from Orlando (Fla.) Edgewater has the Gators in his sights for one of his official visits.

Cornelius Ingram, a quarterback who grew up right down the road from the Gators, has had his offer from the Orange and Blue for quite some time. But, Kenny Ingram recently picked up an offer from the Gators and now the Gators have surged into Ingram’s top five.

“I like Florida because it is in the state of Florida and they have a good program,” Ingram said. “I am not trying to put down or commit to any Florida schools. So it's just because they are in Florida and a real good program – that is why I have been interested in them. Plus the coaches are nice.”

Joining Florida in Ingram’s top five are Miami, Florida State, Southern California and LSU.

“I have narrowed it down but not to a point that I could make a decision on anything,” Ingram said.

Ingram recently narrowed down his list to five from over 15 offers.

“Yeah I am going to say that this is my top five,” Ingram said.

But no school stands out above the rest.

The first school to recruit and offer Ingram was the Miami Hurricanes. Since then Ingram has garnered rave reviews. Rivals.com rates Ingram as a three-star prospect and the 13th best safety in the nation.

Ingram followed up his comments about the Florida program with these comments about the other four schools on his top five list.

FSU: “Florida State has good coaches. We have built up a good rapport with the coaches.”

Miami: “It would have to be because of the location and they have an awesome program.”

USC: “I have to have one or two schools that are out of the state of Florida and USC has a real good program. Plus the head coach (Pete Carroll) came down to see me personally. That shows me that they are devoted to me and that they want me.”

LSU: “I just have always liked them.”

The Florida offer is one of the latest Ingram has received. Although he cannot pinpoint the exact date he received the offer, he says that it came sometime after Edgewater’s nail-biting loss to Tallahassee (Fla.) Lincoln, 14-10 in September. Ingram played outstanding in that game and an offensive pass interference call with one second left in the game, negated his game-winning touchdown reception.

Ingram is set on visiting the schools on his top five list. He is visiting Miami one weekend in December but could not recall the date. He is supposed to visit USC on the Dec. 13 weekend but that is the same weekend as the Florida state football finals and Ingram has the mentality that his team will be playing in that game and he might have to reschedule the USC visit.

Ingram will visit Florida State the weekend of Jan. 9 and then will visit Florida the following weekend on the 16th. Finally, he has no date set for LSU but is pretty sure he will set up a visit there.

Ingram was real excited about the visit from Carroll in the spring and has also enjoyed conversations with Miami head coach Larry Coker. But as far as assistant coaches go, Ingram has talked with Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong and Strong has certainly made a lasting impression.

“He (Strong) is a good guy,” Ingram said. “Sounds like he is real concerned about his athletes and the athletes' parents and stuff like that. He is a pretty good guy. “

Ingram has been extremely busy on the recruiting trail. He has unofficially visited Miami for the Florida game and Florida State for the Miami game. He plans on attending the Florida State-N.C. State game and Florida-Florida State game.

The Miami-Florida game thus far has been the most impressive of his visits.

“That was a good game,” Ingram said. “It was fun. The atmosphere was good. The game was great but unfortunately Florida lost. What more can you ask for, it was a good all around game, offensively and defensively.”

Ingram is certainly happy with the offers he has but is always welcoming of new offers.

“I am always happy to get an offer,” Ingram said. “But I wasn’t set on, 'I really want this school to offer me.' When you do that, that is when your hopes get let down. If they offered me that was great, if they didn’t then I wasn’t going to let my hopes get up.”

With the “Big Three” of Florida settling nicely into Ingram’s top five, it looks solid for one of the three schools to sign Ingram.

“It is a 50/50 chance,” Ingram said.

But as far as some deciding factors that could help sway Ingram one way, his parents might be the biggest influence of them all.

“Location is not a big problem,” Ingram said. “How they mainly talk to my parents and how my parents feel about them and stuff like that.”

Ingram still has some time to decide about what school to sign with as Signing Day is still more than two months away.

“There is no timetable,” Ingram said. “It is whenever I feel the time is right and I think that I have prayed about it and stuff like that. That is when I will have my decision.”

Give InsidetheGators.net a try! The above article is the type of extensive recruiting coverage you receive with a InsidetheGators.net Ultimate Ticket subscription. InsidetheGators.net provides our subscribers with in-depth coverage of Gator football, basketball and recruiting plus exclusive insights from Gator Bait editor Marty Cohen and assistant editor Guerry Smith. And Alligator Alley, our online community for Gator fans only, where one of our most popular features is posted every week – the War Room. Try InsidetheGators.net's Premium Ticket for 7 days FREE with no obligation by clicking here.