LB Jaiden Ausberry Talks Recruitment, Relationship With Florida Gators Coaches
Photo: Jaiden Ausberry; Credit: Conner Clarke
The Florida Gators continue to look far and wide for linebackers to commit for the 2023 recruiting class, even though they've lost out on a couple of promising prospects already during this year's cycle.
One of the linebackers that appear to be on their radar includes University Lab (La.) LB Jaiden Ausberry. Florida has already had a connection with the standout LB, including coaches who are from the area in Baton Rouge (La).
Ausberry, 6-foot, 202 pounds, recently took part in the Under Armour Future 50 camp this weekend, putting his skills to the test along with many other top players from the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes.
Speaking during the media portion of the event, Ausberry recalled his past Florida visits, along with the prospect of building relationships with some of the coaches he already has known.
One coach that has been in contact with him for a while is Florida cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond. Ausberry has known Raymond for quite some time while the standout assistant coach was based in Louisiana with LSU.
"I really talk to coach Raymond a lot. You know, I did know him for a while too, because he was at LSU for about 10 years, so me and him connect really well," Ausberry told AllGators on Friday.
Though Ausberry has visited Florida twice in the past, coach Raymond and the rest of the Florida staff, including safeties coach and defensive coordinator Patrick Toney, want him to visit again with the new staff now in place.
"Their linebacker [room] is not that big right now. And he also told me that I'll have a chance to come in here and play early," Ausberry said of his talks with Raymond and the rest of the Florida football staff.
The Gators like Ausberry as a weak-side (WILL) linebacker, and have talked to him already about getting out to Friday Night Lights, set to take place on July 29.
"Yeah, they've talked to me about that. They're actually really trying to get me out there," Ausberry said. "I'm not sure yet because we have boot-camp like that week, we don't get out until late so I really just have to see how my schedule is."
Still, Florida will have to compete for Ausberry's services with several of the major players within the Power 5. That includes teams like Auburn, Notre Dame, Michigan and LSU which are the teams recruiting him the hardest at this point.
Ausberry admitted that with Early Signing Day only a couple of months away, the majority of the teams vying for his services are recruiting him "hard" at the moment.
Ausberry still has one more official visit to take and has still been in contact with Florida, LSU and Alabama. He said that he's trying to make sure and make the right decision prior to locking in a date with any of the schools, however.
He's already taken official visits to Auburn, Michigan, Notre Dame and Texas A&M.
Ideally, Auberry will finish all of his major visits and wants to let the staff know his full intentions before the college football season starts before everything gets "hectic" in that regard. A decision timeline hasn't been set, however, on when he might make his commitment known.
For Florida, getting a player of Ausberry's caliber would help shape up this year's recruiting class. The team has missed out already on a couple of linebackers but still has an opportunity to land players like Ausberry.
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