One of the most sought after 2020 prospects visits with Florida
Because it is still so early, the prospects in the Class of 2020 have yet to be assigned ratings or star rankings by Rivals. Even with that being the case, there are certain players you know are going to be ranked among the best of the best when the rankings finally do come out.
One such player who fits that bill is Millis (Ma.) offensive tackle Kevin Pyne.
Though he is still more then two full recruiting cycles away from signing with a school, the 6-foot-8, 265-pounder already has offers from the likes of Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Tennessee and UCLA.
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There are 2018 Rivals100 members who don't possess as an impressive list of offers.
Over the last month the 'youngster' has visited both Florida and Florida State for the first time.
What exactly did he think of the trips?
Florida: “I thought the visit went great. I got to tour the facilities and meet with coach Mac [Jim McElwain]. I thought it was a great campus overall. Unfortunately all of the other coaches were on recruiting trips, so I didn't get to meet the line coach [Brad Davis]. I thought Coach Mac was a great guy, I would say the highlight was meeting with him.”
Florida State: “I got to see one of their spring practices. That was an advantage, to get to see what their coaching is like live. I thought Coach [Rick] Trickett did a great job with his players and everything looked like it was done professionally.”
He has visited the two Sunshine State programs along with Boston College. However, that doesn't give the trio a heads-up for his signature.
With 33 months – yes, 2 ¾ years – remaining until Signing Day 2020, it isn't surprising that Pyne isn't ready to formulate a leaderboard just yet.
“I'm not really thinking of things like that,” Pyne said. “I'm not worried about recruiting like that. I'm trying to keep tunnel vision, focusing on getting better. I've seen it before where someone gets too much attention and their head swells up and they lose sight of of their goals and why they were getting attention in the first place. Recruiting will take care of recruiting later on.”
As far as getting better is concerned, improving your skillset is a bit different for a player from the Northeast as compared to a player from the Southeast.
Massachusetts is a state that doesn't conduct spring football practices.
However, Millis head coach Dana Olson said that won't discourage coaches from making their way north over the next several weeks.
“We don't have spring ball,” said Olson. “It's something I have advocated for, because it is a chance for kids to get better and be seen. That handcuffs us, but it doesn't stop coaches from coming and seeing the players workout. It is important for us to have kids like Kevin, who is nationally recruited, because it brings coaches to see him, but while their here they also get to see the other kids.”
Olson, the head coach at Millis for over a decade, has sent three year staring center John Baker to Boston College, so he obviously knows what it takes for an offensive lineman to make it to the next level. What he, what not many coaches, may have down pat is the formula for bringing along someone so highly sought after so early in his high school career.
“He's obviously a special case,” said Olson. “He has some intangibles that you can't teach. He's 6-foot-8, pushing 270-pounds and he bends and runs well. You usually don't get that combination this early with a kid. He's a special kid, so we're tying to 'bubble wrap' him, deflect some of the early attention and focus on the bigger picture.”
The bigger picture likely won't include any campus visits any time soon.
“This is it," said Olson. "These two visits to Florida State and Florida were impromptu visits he's still only a freshman so he isn't thinking along the lines of taking college visits right now. He was over Disney and Florida just offered him, so he thought this was an opportunity to make it over there. He went with his mother and grandmother. His father is back home working this week. He might try to go see UCLA and Stanford sometime in the future, but it's too early to start looking at colleges that closely. His No. 1 focus is on academics and becoming a better football player. We can't be going all Trains, Planes and Automobiles.“
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