By Antonya English, Times Staff Writer
Monday, February 7, 2011
GAINESVILLE — Jacoby Brissett's mother desperately wanted him to attend Miami, but Friday night, the West Palm Beach Dwyer quarterback publicly announced he planned to attend Florida on a football scholarship. His mom vowed to spend the weekend trying to change his mind.
Apparently, her efforts were in vain.
Brissett faxed his letter of intent to Florida on Monday, officially making him part of the 2011 signing class. Brissett is rated the No. 3 quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com and Scout.com and was an immediate target of new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, who headed for Palm Beach one day after he arrived in Gainesville.
"Jacoby will be a good fit in our program," coach Will Muschamp said. "He is an outstanding quarterback, and we are excited to have him join the Gator family."
The class also includes Jeff Driskel, the No. 1 rated QB in the nation by ESPNU. Driskel is an early enrollee who will participate in spring drills, and Muschamp has said all positions will be open when spring practice begins, which seems to indicate senior John Brantley will have to fight to keep his starting job.
Parsons honored: Senior F Chandler Parsons was named SEC player of the week. He averaged 17.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals in wins over No. 23 Vanderbilt and then-No. 10 Kentucky. It marked Florida's first back-to-back wins over ranked teams since 2007. The Gators play at South Carolina at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Demps? Just fine: You can stop wondering whether sprinter Jeff Demps is still hampered by the foot injury from football season. Demps opened the indoor season this past weekend at the Virginia Tech Elite Meet and ran the fifth-best indoor time in the world this season in the 60-meter dash: 6.57 seconds, just shy of his personal-best 6.56 recorded at the 2010 NCAA Indoor Championships. He has automatically qualified for this year's NCAA Indoor Championships and holds the second-fastest collegiate time in 2011.
"I've been getting a lot of questions about Jeff, his foot and whether football (new staff) is allowing Jeff to run, and hopefully all those questions have been answered now," track and field coach Mike Holloway said. "When he was recruited here, he was promised he could do both. Coach Muschamp and I have had a lengthy conversation, and Jeff Demps is a track guy right now, and we fully expect him to be back in football in the spring."
Softball in Clearwater: The No. 5 softball team opens the season at the USF Wilson DeMarini Tournament, Friday through Sunday. The tournament was scheduled to be in Tampa but was moved to the Eddie C. Moore Complex in Clearwater to allow for an extra field to be used.
Florida faces Marshall at 6 p.m. Friday and Florida Gulf Coast at 8 p.m. The Gators then play Long Island at 12:30 p.m. Saturday and N.C. State at 3 p.m. All games will be on field No. 9. The Gators and USF square off on field No. 8 at 1 p.m. Sunday.
"South Florida has done a great job recruiting and has some great Florida kids and some East Coast talent," coach Tim Walton said. "They have about five or six pitchers we've seen in the last two years, and they throw you a bunch of looks. They have some kids that really can play, so it should be fun.
"Overall, the whole environment of this tournament is going to be a solid opening tournament for the season."
Antonya English can be reached at english@sptimes.com.
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