The Top 7 Reasons Vernon Hargreaves III Committed to Florida

Vernon Hargreaves III is ranked as the country's best CB prospect for 2013 on my recruiting board. The Tampa native is a 5'11", 180-pounder that is a true student of the game. Hargreaves boasts excellent technique for the CB position and plays with tremendous instincts.

Combined with his premier athletic talent and natural cover ability, Hargreaves offer sheet was vastly impressive. In the end, he decided that Florida was the school for him and is locked up to be a Gator. Florida could indeed give Hargreaves a key role as a true freshman.

For this read, I'm going to list the top seven reasons why Hargreaves will be covering pass catchers in The Swamp.

7. Gainesville's a Good Town

The UF campus sits in the North Florida section located in Gainesville. Noted for being a classic college town with passionate fans, good people and not overly far from Orlando or Jacksonville, Gainesville is a fine place to call home. Hargreaves couldn't have made a better choice to play football.

6. Talented Teammates

All great players want to play with other great players. Talent attracts talent in recruiting and Florida has an abundance of it.

Hargreaves is the headliner of Florida's 2013 recruiting class, but the Gators were in the top five without him and that speaks to how good the other players are in Hargreaves' class.

The Gators have NFL prospects littered up and down their roster and playing with other great talent is a sure thing at Florida.

5. Chance to Play in the SEC

Other programs in other conferences offered Hargreaves a scholarship but none could boast the chance to stay in-state and still play in the SEC.

The SEC as a conference is the most competitive sports league in North American sports. This is a league where the best athletes and football players come to play in huge games week in and week out.

Hargreaves surely has NFL aspirations, and if he can excel in the SEC, then he will be more than prepared to play in the pros. 

4. Exposure

Florida is on national television at what seems to be every week and always is among the elite teams in the spotlight. Hargreaves will get plenty of exposure while at Florida.

I mean that in variety of ways. Whether it be to the national media by playing in big games, NFL scouts because Florida always has excellent talent, SEC conference recognition or more, Hargreaves is set up to be a known player in college football.

3. NFL-Style Coaching

It's no secret that Will Muschamp has converted the UF program into a more NFL-style operation than how Urban Meyer ran things.

Muschamp has NFL experience himself and Dan Quinn is his defensive chief whom Muschamp hired away from the Seattle Seahawks. Quinn runs a multiple look NFL-style defense and Hargreaves will get coached up in a system that will have pro principles in it.

That has to be exciting for any player.

2. Not Far from Home

Tampa is not far at all from Gainesville and is just over a two hour drive. Hargreaves will get a chance to get away from home and experience things on his own, but also still won't be far away.

Leaving Florida is always tough for a Sunshine State recruit, and Hargreaves now can stay close to home and not be too far away to see his family and friends while attending college.

1. It Felt Right

Hargreaves told Scout.com that Florida just frankly "felt right" and I list this as the No. 1 reason why the 5-star CB decided to be a Gator. There is an indescribable feeling of comfort and admiration Hargreaves has toward the Florida program and that is why he chose to commit. 

Edwin Weathersby has worked in scouting/player personnel departments for three professional football teams, including the New York Giants, Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena League. He spent a year evaluating prep prospects & writing specific recruiting and scouting content articles for Student Sports Football (now ESPN Rise-HS). A syndicated scout and writer, he's also contributed to WeAreSC.com, GatorBait.net and Diamonds in the Rough Inc., a College Football and NFL Draft magazine.