WR Santana Fleming Talks Relationship With Florida Gators, Keary Colbert

With the 2022 class all but wrapped up and coaches across the country turning their attention toward the 2023 cycle prospects from all over are communicating with countless schools. One prospect that has been speaking with just about every school in the country is Opa Locka (Fla.) native and American Heritage High School standout wide receiver Santana Fleming.

The sunshine state pass-catcher holds over 40 offers including one from the Florida Gators. While the previous staff did offer Fleming the communication was sparse and not consistent. That however has changed since head coach Billy Napier and his staff got to town.

“[I talked to] coach KC [Keary Colbert], coach Napier, and a couple of other assistant coaches that keep in contact with me too,” Fleming told AllGators.

Keary Colbert, the Gators' wide receivers coach, has been Fleming’s main point of contact at Florida and he has really picked up communication and prioritized Fleming since getting to Gainesville. Colbert previously recruited Fleming to USC when he was on the Trojans' coaching staff.

“He’s just really trying to get to know me even more now as a person since he’s at the University of Florida, which is an in-state school and a powerhouse,” Fleming said. “He’s basically telling me his game plan for what he’s got coming in and the type of receivers he’s trying to bring in, and I fit that mold. He’s trying to make me feel like a priority for him and he’s definitely doing a good job at that.”

Fleming announced on his Twitter account that he will be taking a trip up to Gainesville on March 6 when the dead period ends and the spring open recruiting period begins. He also has plans to visit Florida State the day prior on March 5. Fleming has some family ties to each of those universities and it leads to some heated rivalry at family gatherings.

“My dad went to Florida State and my uncle went to Florida, so you know, it’s a constant rivalry whenever we have family events and they just talk about which school they want me to go to," Fleming explained. "[My uncle] always talks up Florida. He’s been talking it up since I was about five or six years old.”

As fans of a team, many families want their kids to commit to their school, or as they like to say, “commit to the logo.” But it is the coaches that these prospects create a relationship with and while the school does play a factor, Fleming prioritizes the people and system over the school history.

“With me as a receiver, I’m looking for an offensive scheme, I’m not looking for old school history because I’ve got to believe in the coach and the culture," Fleming said. "So it’s not really about the school to me, it’s about the certain coaching staff that I feel can use me and put my talents into a good scheme.”

Often times on social media, you will see coaches use graphics of all the great players to come through a university at certain positions or just overall. And they will sometimes use that as a recruiting pitch to recruits. While player history is important for some prospects, Fleming is more interested in the players developed up by that particular coach.

“Coaches will try tell you about the school’s players that they didn’t even coach," Fleming noted, "so that’s another thing I pay attention to.”

With the crazy coaching carousel that took place in recent months, a lot of prospects from the 2023 class have slowed down their decision time frame and have started to take a wait-and-see approach to see which coaches are going to remain at the schools they are currently working at.

“It definitely made me take things three times slower because I don’t want to build a relationship with a certain coach at a certain school, and then he ends up leaving as soon as I commit," said Fleming. "So, we definitely took a step back to reevaluate all the options. I’ll probably have to wait until early signing day.”

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