{"id":11808,"date":"2023-07-27T12:31:33","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T17:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/?p=11808"},"modified":"2023-07-27T12:31:33","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T17:31:33","slug":"life-a-lot-less-stressful-for-fletcher-westphal-since-florida-gators-commitment-house-hunting-on-deck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/life-a-lot-less-stressful-for-fletcher-westphal-since-florida-gators-commitment-house-hunting-on-deck\/","title":{"rendered":"Life \u2018a lot less stressful\u2019 for Fletcher Westphal since Florida Gators commitment; house hunting on deck"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s safe to say life for Fletcher Westphal<\/a> is much more simple now that he is committed to the University of Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Throughout the recruiting process, the 6-foot-8, 330-pound offensive tackle has logged 70-plus visits and landed scholarship offers from some of the premier football programs across the map. Those include obviously Florida, Clemson, Georgia, Tennessee, Oregon and Michigan among many others.<\/p>\n

However, following this month\u2019s pledge<\/a> to the Gators, Westphal is not checking his phone as much and now simply relishing his time as Fletcher the kid, not the highly-regarded recruit. Being able to turn the page on the recruiting process has been quite pleasant for the four-star prospect.<\/p>\n

Representing Leesburg (Va.) Tuscarora, Westphal is the No. 19 offensive tackle and No. 249 prospect overall in the On3 Industry Ranking<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has definitely been a lot less stressful. I haven\u2019t had to worry about calling college coaches every day; I can be a high school kid right now, not really having to worry about working calls into my schedule and whatnot,\u201d Westphal told Gators Online<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably call coach (Rob) Sale about once a week. I\u2019m just hanging out in bed when I give him a call, so life is a lot of easier right now actually. There is nothing else to say, really.\u201d<\/p>\n

JOIN GATORS ONLINE TODAY!<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Gators went all in but were not overwhelming<\/h2>\n

Speaking of Sale, Westphal\u2019s relationship with the Gators\u2019 offensive coordinator and co-offensive line coach played a pivotal role down the stretch. That is who extended the scholarship offer last October.<\/p>\n

And although there were additional coaches who contacted him more frequently, Westphal says Sale\u2019s approach ended up being everything he was looking for. Those personalities gelled from the get-go, especially when having face time in Gainesville.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was definitely a big thing,\u201d Westphal said. \u201cHe never went overboard and there was always that space. I would be talking with Sale and it feels like I\u2019m talking to him as much as I am talking to my parents. Throughout my recruiting journey, there were some coaches I was talking to literally every day. It was definitely good to kind of have that (with him).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a very good texter; over the phone is fine, but I\u2019m not really good over social media, texting and all that stuff. Half of the time when someone texts me, I might not respond either because I don\u2019t know what to respond with or because I\u2019m not in my messages app.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shoot (coach Sale) a call once a week, but it doesn\u2019t feel like I\u2019m shooting him a call from across the world every day. They did a great job of speaking with me in person. I like talking to people in person and seeing them in the face, so I had a great time with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

SUBSCRIBE TO THE GO NEWSLETTER AND GET BREAKING NEWS SENT FOR FREE<\/strong><\/a>!<\/p>\n

What separated Florida from Arkansas, Clemson and others?<\/h2>\n

\u201cReally, out of my top five, every school had the facilities and I loved the coaches at all the schools, but Florida had the best academics out of all the places. I liked the coaches at Florida and blended the best with the players. I got along the best with the players at Florida,\u201d said Westphal.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though the transfer portal is a thing, the players are more likely to stay than the coaches. Even if somehing happens and let\u2019s say coach Napier has to go somewhere, hopefully I can look to my right and my right guard is still there. It\u2019s one of those things where you can kind of prevent your own players from going.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players are the people who you are going to be around the most at college. Them, the weight-room coaches and your positional coach; that is who you are going to be around the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will Westphal transform into a top recruiter for the Gators?<\/h2>\n

This weekend, Florida\u2019s offensive line commit will be in attendance for the Gators\u2019 Grill in the Ville cookout. It will mark his fourth trip to Gainesville overall.<\/p>\n

However, with Westphal now in UF\u2019s class, this trip should produce a much-different feeling. All the attention will not be on him as a top prospect who has yet to make a decision, and he will also be able to grow closer to the majority of his classmates.<\/p>\n

With top targets expected to be present, will Westphal have his recruiting cap nearby too?<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t really even dug into all of the recruiting yet. I haven\u2019t figured that out yet. At the Grill in the Ville though, I know there will be some recruits there and will probably be recruiting them,\u201d said Westphal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike I said, I\u2019m an in-person type of dude. I\u2019m not going to be the guy who sends them a DM on Instagram or Twiter saying, \u2018Go Gators!\u2019 When someone would send me that to me for any of the schools, it really had no substance to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all goes as planned, Westphal will be flying into Florida on Friday morning. He will be in Gainesville that day and then attending the cookout before leaving for Tampa to help his parents with house shopping. If that does not highlight how strong Westphal\u2019s commitment is. I do not know what will.<\/p>\n

Westphal is planning to become a mid-year enrollee as well, so recruiting is now an afterthought.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to Gators Online<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The post Life \u2018a lot less stressful\u2019 for Fletcher Westphal since Florida Gators commitment; house hunting on deck<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s safe to say life for Fletcher Westphal is much more simple now that he…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11808\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}