Omar Payne Talks Recruitment and UF Official Visit
Four-star forward Omar Payne has been busy the past several weeks.
The No. 42 ranked prospect in the Rivals150 packed some of his belongings and moved to Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.) after deciding to transfer from Osceola (Kissimmee, Fla.) High School. Then, in the midst of adjusting to being away from home for school, Payne went on an official visit to Florida State (Sept. 2-4) and to Florida (Sept. 7-9). This weekend he’ll head back home for some home cooking and discuss his recruitment with his mom.
“Being out here you just gotta go harder every day,” Payne said about adjusting to the competition in the Montverde Academy practices. “There is competition every day. So you know, you gotta go hard for the starters spot. I’m trying to come out here and show my potential.”
The 6-foot-9, 215-pounder told GatorsTerritory.com that both schools that he recently visited “have things I like so it’s going to be hard to choose between the schools that I visit. On the official visit you get to spend more time there so I get to see more things that I didn’t see before and I get to ask questions to see why they want me and not need me.”
Prior to last weekend’s official visit to UF Payne had taken several unofficial visits to Gainesville and was already familiar with the campus. So, on his recent visit he focused on other areas of interest to him like spending time with the Gators coaches.
“They say I can be a good versatile big man and that I can play the four and the five,” said Payne. They’re showing a high interest in me and I can see that, from what they have, I could go in and play if I put in work. And they showed me that they can improve me.”
Payne and Florida commit Tre Mann know each other and Payne told us that Mann has been in his ear about joining him at Florida.
“Tre Mann is a high caliber point guard,” Payne said. “So I know if I go in there he’s going to do what he’s gotta do to dish it off. He can shoot, he can score, he can pass and he can give me lobs that I like. So, I know he is willing to do that, he’s willing to play with me and he says he wants to play with me.”
Payne has three more official visits scheduled: Ohio State (Sept. 21-23), LSU (Oct. 12-14) and Louisville (Oct. 21-23) and an unofficial visit scheduled with UCF at the end of this month. While Payne was finishing up his visit to Florida, Louisville picked up a verbal commitment from combo forward Jae’lyn Withers. The Cardinal also seem to be in strong shape with power forward Aidan Igiehon.
We asked Payne if he thinks he’ll take all five of his official visits before making his school choice.
“I’m just working on that, said Payne. “I’ve got to see if the schools that are still recruiting me hard still come to the gym to show interest in me. I’ve seen a couple of players like a five/four commit to Louisville so I’m still deciding if I want to do that or not.”
GATORS TERRITORY REACTION
It is beginning to appear that Payne may not take all five of his visits, as we originally reported on Tuesday, but we will follow up with him and those close to him to see if any big decisions come from spending this weekend at home discussing things with his mother. I continue to like the Gators chances with Payne and I do not think we will have to wait too much longer before he makes his school choice public.