The Savannah (Ga.) Jenkins duo of Chaz Sutton and Franklin Green have been committed to the University of Florida for going on two month now. However that didn't stop them from making the short trip to Columbia, to watch the South Carolina Gamecocks take on South Carolina State Saturday before last. Upon returning home from the trip, one of the two reports that while he remains firm, he's not as sure about his teammate.
"We went up to see South Carolina," said Sutton. "I got a chance to talk to the coaches and find out more about what they have going on. Coach (Steve) Spurrier is going to get them going. They said they wouldn't mind me being a part of it."
Sutton reports that he is happy with his commitment to the Gators.
"I'm planning on playing at Florida," Sutton said. "I said all along I'm going back up there for the Florida game, but it's not going to be for an official visit. I don't want to a team to waste their time paying for me to have an official visit.
"I want to get to Florida for a game, but we're playing on Saturday. I talk to the coaches about setting something up."
When asked how the Gator coaches reacted to his visit to Columbia, Sutton responded, "They were cool with it. They know me. They know I'm solid."
However, on the other hand, according to Sutton, his teammate Green may not be quite as sure of his choice.
"We don't talk about it that much and I know he hasn't talked to coach (Stan) Drayton about it, but I think he might be looking at the situation at South Carolina and thinking it is a better fit for him. He sees what Florida has been bringing in."
That is obviously a reference to the transfer of former Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, running back Emmanuel Moody as well as Florida's pursuit of five-star Darrell Scott and four-star Jamie Harper.
"I think he sees that he can get on the field at South Carolina. He liked it up there more than I did."
It has been an up-and-down senior season for Sutton so far.
"In the first game we played a team up in South Carolina," said Sutton. "I was having a good game – I had about six tackles and three sacks before the penalty."
The 'penalty' he is speaking of was a helmet to helmet hit on the opposing team's quarterback.
"He got rid of the ball a second before I hit him. It was almost at the same time. They didn't flag me for a late hit, they said I went to his helmet. He was down on the ground and acted like he had some trouble getting up."
With that ejection penalty came an automatic suspension for his next game.
He returned to action this past weekend, but the football gods were still working against him.
"We were beating this team Calvary when the game was delayed because of lightening. It was just starting the second quarter and I already had 90-yards rushing, but when the game was suspended it was going to be rescheduled but they decided that they don't want to play it. They canceled it. We were only winning 21 to 7, but they said forget about it."
Although the game may not be official, that didn't stop the four-star defensive end from hearing about one play in particular from the Florida staff.
"I just talked to Florida (coaches) and they found out I was caught from behind when I should have had a touchdown so they were teasing me about it. I tried to tell them the guy had a good angle on me, but they didn't want to hear that. They teased me about getting run down."
Sutton was one of the first to commit to the Gators over the summer. Since then Florida has added three other big names. What does he think of his new future teammates?
"I've heard of (Will) Hill," said the 6-foot-4, 242-pounder. "I don't know any of them but (Earl) Okine. He's the only one I know that's committed besides Franklin."
where do these 2 uf commitments stand? green/sutton
where do these 2 uf commitments stand? green/sutton
I kind of figured that Green would start looking elsewhere since Moody came aboard and it seems like we have a really good shot at Scott or Harper or both. Though I sense that Harper is not as high on us anymore either.