Evan Stewart on Gators Visit: Florida "Felt Like Home"
The appeal of familiarity can often be a valuable factor in the decision process for prospective college athletes.
As of right now, familiarity is something Florida has to offer to one of their top wide receiver prospects in the 2022 cycle.
Traveling to the University of Florida on the first weekend of the open recruiting period, Frisco (Texas) native Evan Stewart was greeted by a familiar face in the form of Gators 2022 quarterback commit Nick Evers.
Playing on the same 7-on-7 team in Texas, Stewart has been a heavy target of Evers' recruiting efforts since his commitment to the Gators back in March, a trend that continued during the weekend of official visits.
“I mean, me and Nick we were just everywhere together. We were just talking about everything, what we liked, what was going on and stuff and what our future would be like if we were both to end up here.”
Attending the first official visit of his process in Gainesville, the Gators were given the first opportunity to make a positive in-person impression on Stewart.
“It’s was fun. It was actually amazing. I mean, I loved it. I enjoyed it. It was very fun,” Stewart said. “It felt like home. I mean, I felt welcome. They all enjoyed themselves. They were all treating each other like family like they been knew each other, so it was very fun.”
Looking to be paired with top-tier talent at skill positions to draw multiple defenders away from him, Stewart was excited to see how things could shake out in the Gators wide receiver room.
“It’s going to be something I’m looking forward to. Because I’m not going to say I don’t have the best receivers right now on my team, but they’re definitely better than what I have on my team right now. So, I mean, it’s going to be fun to see what happens.”
With a way left to go in his process as there is no set date for a commitment, Stewart looks to feel out his list of top schools — naming Texas, Alabama, LSU, USC and Texas A&M alongside Florida — to continue his playing career.
“Probably just the vibe that I get off the campus. How well that I fit in if I do fit in at all,” when asked his criteria for a school.
Continuing on to say that a school that throws the football was a major factor in his process of narrowing down schools to choose from, Florida sits in a good position given the propensity to air it out in recent years.
“That was one of the main things I thought about when choosing colleges. It was how much they throw the ball. So with them throwing the ball a lot, it definitely puts them at a high position than most colleges.”
Looking to make a return to Florida in the future, Stewart is eyeing an in-season date when the Gators face Alabama in The Swamp, an opportunity to get a glimpse at the game-day atmosphere.
Leaving Stewart with one thing to think about upon his departure, current Gators players made sure to set the table for Florida as the best option for Stewart to excel in football and outside of football.
“It’s one of the only places that can give you both and everything that you want.”
Ahead of his decision, the Gators coaching staff will continue to stay heavily involved in selling Stewart, while Evers looks to make the closing argument on his friend to draw another Texas-based playmaker to Gainesville for the next three to four years.