Bryce Lovett Furthers Comfort With Gators During Third Visit This Year
Sometimes what you see is actually reality in recruiting, and it appears that way with Rockledge (Fla) native offensive lineman Bryce Lovett, who has clearly grown to enjoy his time on the Florida Gators' campus over the past few months.
Taking his third visit to the campus since January, and his second visit in just as many weeks, there wasn't much more for Lovett to take away, but what he can see from the team's staff, including head coach Billy Napier is the consistency that the program is showing him, he told reporters on March 27.
"I don't know what it is," Lovett said about why he keeps coming back to visit the school. "But it's something about it that obviously makes me keep coming back. It's just chill. I like being here. So it's good. It's close to home, too."
At 6-foot-5, 330 pounds, Lovett projects as a tackle at the next level, which is where Florida wants to play him initially if he were to decide to come to the program for his collegiate career. But, that all remains fluid and Lovett is certainly open to playing anywhere on the offensive line.
"I could play anywhere," he said. "And they know that. So they said, if there's opportunity for me to play guard, they would put me to guard or wherever I need to be. And they want to like slim me down a little bit cut some weight and then build it back with muscle."
Lovett has been playing all over the offensive line his entire life, so this wouldn't necessarily be anything different, but it's clear that the coaching staff, led by co-offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Rob Sale has plenty on the table and a plan should Lovett decide that UF should be his home.
But, just because Lovett has been visiting Florida so often doesn't mean that UF is the only team that is vying for his services, nor the only team he himself is interested in.
Lovett is set to unofficially visit Iowa State on April 8-9, and will have a couple of official visits with potentially Louisville and Missouri, but he's not quite sure. He also has a potential OV at Arkansas, somewhere he's already visited, and of course Florida at some point, too.
So, there are plenty of options on the table for the versatile offensive lineman.
Taking an official visit to Florida's campus is something Lovett is looking forward to. He's expected to take the visit sometime in June, or at least that's when Napier has indicated he wants him to come back and visit whenever they lock down the official date.
Lovett has already seen some of the campus, of course, and a couple of the living quarters, something that has really impressed him.
"So basically just trying to see if I actually like it for four years," Lovett said about the potential OV. "And I also try to just talk to as many players as I can because right now, I talked to [Gators redshirt sophomore OL] Richie [Leonard] that's one person I want to talk to more.
"[Leonard] says nothing the good things about this new coaching staff and how they're doing stuff and like how the new building is gonna be. It hasn't been the same since the old coaching staff, he likes this one better, so he just keeps giving me good thoughts and ideas about why I should come here."
Perhaps he will, and become one of the first recruits to solidify his spot in UF's 2023 recruiting class, Napier's first recruiting cycle as the team's head coach. Lovett wants to lock in a decision around late June, but time will tell when that decision ultimately comes.
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