“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses blared on the loud speakers rivaling the earlier screams at midfield by UF strength coach Jeff Dillman.
More than 200 high school football players spent Friday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the eighth annual Friday Night Lights camp getting used to Gators football and its high-strung coaching staff.
Former linebacker Brian Crum, who spent five years at the Swamp, from 2002-2006, understood how a football event like Friday Night Lights benefits attendees.
“It just reaches out to the kids,” Crum said. “It gives them a chance to come to the Swamp, experience the Swamp and get on the field.”
Crum, a native Georgian, prepares kids in Camden County, Ga., for college football as a defensive coach for Explosive Sports Training. The football strength program uses a lot of the same exercises headed by the Gators coaches.
Players competed in a gauntlet of drills, including ladders, sprints and one-on-one matchups.
Friday Night Lights attracted nearly the entire 2013 UF recruiting class and several high-profile prospects like defensive ends DeMarcus Walker and Jordan Sherit. These two players and most commits decided against working out. However, a few commits like quarterback Max Staver (Brentwood, Tenn.), linebacker Daniel McMillan (Jacksonville, Fla.) and guard Josh Outlaw (Lithonia, Ga.) elected to participate.
“I definitely think I held my own against some of the competitors out here,” Outlaw said. “I think I can excel more, get a little bigger, get a little stronger and take my game to another level.”
For lesser-known players like wide receiver Derale Burris (Jacksonville, Fla.) of First Coast High School, there wasn’t a choice.
“You had different sessions and different drills,” Burris said. “You got to go as hard as you can competing and do your best.”
McMillan, Burris’s teammate, loved the frantic atmosphere with the music playing and coaches yelling.
“Coach (Will) Muschamp, he is so cool,” McMillan said. “He’ll get to know you and build a relationship with you off the field, so when you get on the field and he yells at you, you know it’s from the heart.”
Homestead High School wide receiver Marcus Jackson (Homestead, Fla.) needed Friday Night Lights. The 2014 receiver who displayed natural hands didn’t play one down his sophomore season due to failing grades.
Jackson received some help from the adrenaline-pumping Swamp environment.
“To me, it gets me hyped,” Jackson said. “It motivates me. I like music.”
Even the 28-year-old Crum wanted some action between the sidelines.
“Definitely, until I jumped up and felt the knees creep a little bit. You know what I mean.”
Florida nabs 18th and 19th commitments: The Gators' 2013 recruiting class got a huge boost ahead of its annual Friday Night Lights camp.
Five-star cornerback Vernon Hargeaves III gave Florida a solid verbal commitment Thursday over Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt.
On Friday, three-star defensive end Antonio Riles told InsideTheGators.com that he gave coach Muschamp a solid verbal on the phone. Riles selected UF over offers from 12 other schools, including Alabama and Georgia.
Rivals.com has Hargreaves listed as the No. 2 cornerback and ninth-ranked prospect overall in the Class of 2013. Riles is the 24th-ranked defensive end prospect.
