‘More than I expected’ … Four-Star DB Cai Bates raves about FSU official visit

Florida State had one more midweek official visit wrap up on Wednesday, and it was four-star defensive back Cai Bates of Orlando.

“It was exciting. It opened my eyes a lot, really,” Bates said Wednesday evening. “I just really got more than what I expected coming here. Definitely, just all the opportunities, all the coaches, all the people around you, just people around me, great people. Look out for you as a person more than a football player, so that’s big for me.

“I’ve been here plenty of times, so me coming as my official visit, I mean, I’ve been to an official visit before; my first official visit was Alabama. But really coming here, really just blew it out of the water for me. … In Florida, they’re the No. 1 school in my opinion. They boost themselves up a lot.”

Something that is really important for the four-star prospect out of Edgewater High is the opinion of his mother. And it was easy to tell she really liked the Seminoles.

“She loves it,” Bates said. “My mom never steered me the wrong way, so I always listen to my mom. She loves it a lot; they looked out for her as well.”

According to the On3 Industry Ranking, Bates is listed as the 17th best player in the state of Florida, and the 16th best defensive back nationally.

Being a DB, Bates naturally has already developed a great relationship with former NFL cornerback and Florida State secondary coach Patrick Surtain.

“It was nice,” Bates said. “I got a good connection with them. I’ve been here plenty of times previously, but just getting a lot more time to just sit down with them one-on-one and talk and everything like that has been good.”

As for the message from head coach Mike Norvell, it reminded Bates of someone close to home: “Pretty much he just said, ‘I want to coach you.’ He was like, ‘I don’t have the best recruiting speech, but I want to coach you. I’m gonna get everything out of you.’

“He reminded me of my high school coach, Coach [Cameron] Duke. Like high-energy guys. I mean they look out for you as a person, and they’re gonna make it hard on you. That’s what I like. I like being coached hard. That’s how I respond — I mean he going to get it out of you for sure.”

Bates added that the coaches and support staff are really made Florida State stand out among other schools.

“It was just really all about the people,” he said. “I mean, every school’s gonna have great facilities, all the flashy stuff, but a lot of people around me really just poured into me. And everything was so real, like it was real. I mean, it just showed me how people really care about me as a person more than a football player, which is going to help me make more plays on the football field.”

The Edgewater prospect will go to Tennessee for another official visit on Thursday and then take his last one to LSU. There is a possibility that he will take an unofficial game-day visit to Colorado, but other than that, he plans to commit this summer.

“I’m not going to make an emotional decision, I’m going to really go into and lay all the facts out,” Bates said. “Lay out the certain standards for myself, put out all the plans that each school has for me and see what really fits me best.”

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