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Murphy reaffirms commitment on Meyer visit

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Hundreds of miles could not keep Florida head coach Urban Meyer from visiting St. Petersburg (Fla.) Lakewood wide receiver Louis Murphy late Tuesday night. Just hours before, Meyer was in Miami visiting with four-star defensive back Demetrice Morley. After meeting with Morley, Meyer jetted over to Tampa with running backs coach Mike Locksley to make an in-home visit with Murphy.
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"My first impression of coach Meyer is that he is strong, wants to win and is a player's coach," Murphy said.
Murphy has been cramming for exams the past few days, but cleared up some time Tuesday to meet with Meyer – his future head coach. Murphy verbally committed to UF in July and remained committed to UF even after Ron Zook's firing.
"I stayed committed through the whole process, but I just had to open up my options and see some other schools," the three-star wide receiver said.
Murphy wasn't the only person Meyer made a favorable impression on Tuesday. The meeting started with Meyer getting to know Murphy's mom.
"He and my mom have a lot in common," Murphy said. "My mom is Samoan and he has been to Samoa because there are a lot of Samoans on his Utah team. So they had a good conversation.
"Then, we got into the X's and O's and talking about the offense. He basically talked about how they needed receivers and that was pretty much about it. We also talked about me meeting the wide receivers coach – coach (Billy) Gonzales. I think after the bowl game he is going to come down every week, and we are going to go over the offense."
Murphy and Meyer have spoken twice before meeting face-to-face Tuesday. When the meeting ended, Meyer just had one question left for Murphy.
"At the end of the conversation he was like, 'How do you feel about Florida?'" Murphy said. "I said, 'I stayed committed through the whole process and there is no sense for me changing now.' He was excited because he thought I was kind of wavering toward N.C. State and Maryland. He was really excited I stayed committed."
N.C. State and Maryland began to make in-roads with Murphy after he visited Raleigh on Dec.3 and College Park on Dec. 10.
"The visits were good," Murphy said. "They showed me a good time. The players and the coaches have good chemistry, but I am from Florida and I am not used to that cold weather."
Despite losing Murphy's recruiting coach, former UF offensive line coach Joe Wickline, the Gators kept Murphy interested in UF while the coaching search commenced.
"Well it effected me a lot in the beginning of the process, but right now I am committed to the University of Florida and I know coach Locksley and he knows my dad," Murphy said. "We have talked before and coach Locksley has always been on my side through the whole recruiting process. He hasn't missed a beat recruiting me."
Murphy, who returned three kickoffs for touchdowns his senior season, has already been passed through the NCAA clearinghouse. He has a 3.2 GPA and scored a 950 on his SAT. Now that the word is out Murphy is firmly committed to UF, all that is left is finishing out his days as a high school senior and getting prepared to become of a member of the UF football team.
"I just want to say this is going to be a good class coming to Florida, and I know there are going to be a lot of good things that come from my class," Murphy said. "Just watch out for us. I can't be more excited about coming into that (Meyer's) passing offense and you will see a lot of big things. I will just leave it at that."
**Go to Alligator Alley for an extra comments from Louis Murphy about helping to recruit some other top players to the Gators**
Video highlights (Ultimate Ticket subscription required): Louis Murphy video
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