Fast-rising 2023 OL Vincent Carroll continues to make the headlines, reels in Florida offer

A year ago today, Vincent Carroll was nowhere near the radar of college coaches; in fact, he was not even playing football, as the 2022 season was the first year strapping up the pads.

Now, the fast-rising 2023 offensive tackle has landed scholarship offers from both Florida and Georgia. Both of those SEC opportunities were delivered over the past 24 hours, while schools such as Rutgers, Ohio, Kent State, Buffalo and Central Michigan have offered as well.

However, it’s safe to say a flurry of additional opportunities will soon be on the table as well. Carroll is also not signing until February, so time is certainly on his side.

“I decided to play football when I met my head coach last year. He was new and in his first year at East High,” Carroll told Gators Online. “He was my strength and conditioning teacher at school and asked me why I didn’t play football. Throughout that entire year, we were just training together, lifting together, working together, and throughout that entire time, we were just talking about football and me coming to play for him.

“After a while of talking about it, he finally convinced me to do it. It all led up to here. These past 24 hours have honestly been crazy because I’m a kid from Harrisburg, (Pennsylvania). It’s such a small city and there is not really anyone out here. For schools like Georgia and Florida to want me and offer me, it’s crazy. It’s a blessing and dream come true. You wouldn’t think something like this would happen to someone like me.”

In-depth conversation with the Gators results in another SEC offer

While plenty of schools show significant interest for days or weeks before offering, Carroll says today marked his first-ever conversation with Billy Napier’s staff.

Offensive coordinator Rob Sale kicked things off with a personal approach to the conversation. From there, co-offensive line coach Darnell Stapleton introduced himself as well. A strong first impression was certainly made, and then before you know it, UF opted to go all in with a scholarship offer.

“First it was coach Sale who hit me up. We got on a phone call and were talking about my life, interests and passion for the game. When I got off the phone with him, maybe an hour later, I got on the phone with the other offensive line coach, coach Stapleton. We had a half an hour conversation just getting to know each other, really trying to figure out everything, like, talking about life goals.

“After that conversation, it was a great conversation and he just offered me.”

Although he just wrapped up his only season of football, Carroll has been monitoring the sport for much of his life. It’s always been one of his favorite sports, so UF is a brand he is already fairly accustomed to.

“Florida has always been a dominant team in the SEC and in college football period,” Carroll said. “They got a few nattys on their side. They produce stars, like, they are no pushover program. They’re a legit powerhouse.”

The next step is to lock in official visit itinerary

According to Carroll, Rutgers is the only school that has secured an official visit. That trip to Piscataway, New Jersey is scheduled for Dec. 16. The Early Signing Period is less than a week later, but as we noted above, the fast-rising senior is not signing until February.

With that said, there is a good chance Carroll takes an official visit to Florida sometime in January. The same can be said for Georgia, although next weekend could be a possibility for either school as well.

“I’m going to go into detail later with Florida about an official visit, so I will have more on that later,” Carroll said. “They also want to come see me (next) week.”

As you can expect, Carroll is attacking the process one day at a time with all schools on a level playing field. It’s been a complete whirlwind to say the least and more attention is coming his way.

“I’m not favoring anyone right now,” Carroll said. “I am just taking my time, looking at my options and making sure I’m very thorough with it. I don’t want to just jump on everything because everything big is coming, so I just want to take my time with it and really focus.”

Stay tuned to Gators Online.