TC’s Joyer commits to Florida

Posted Jun 17, 2010 by Bill Ward

Updated Jun 17, 2010 at 06:05 PM

Tampa Catholic rising senior Hunter Joyer, one of the nation’s top recruits at the fullback position, made a verbal commitment to the University of Florida on Thursday.

“It’s so close to home, it’s a great school and a great (football) program,” Joyer said. “It’s just an all-around elite school and I feel like it’s hard to go wrong when you choose to go there.”

In its recent rankings by position, Rivals.com listed the 6-foot, 245-pound Joyer as the nation’s top recruit at fullback. Joyer also had offers from Connecticut, Georgia Southern, Louisville, Minnesota, South Florida, Stanford and Texas A&M. The UF scholarship offer came from Gators head coach Urban Meyer, whom the Joyers called Thursday. Joyer was in Gainesville Monday attending a Florida football camp, where he impressed Gators coaches with his speed, strength and agility.

Joyer’s father, Jack, said another appealing aspect of Florida’s football program is the possibility of a more prominent role of the fullback this season in its offense.

“His primary job, of course, will still be to block, but they told us Hunter could see passes out of the backfield and carries in key situations,” Jack Joyer said.

Joyer said he also hopes to compete for the Gators track team, which this season won the NCAA indoor title and finished second outdoors. Joyer won this year’s Class 2A state title in the shot put. Hunter’s older brother, Kamran Joyer, is a sophomore offensive lineman at the University of Louisville.

Among other honors, Joyer was recently invited to the prestigious Max Emfinger Super Elite Top Gun Skills Camp, July 11-14 in Daytona Beach. This camp often leads to an invitation to the annual All-American Bowl Game Classic, which this year is slated for Dec. 31. Earlier this year, Joyer also earned honorable mention honors on the U.S. Army National All-Combine Offense Team.

Joyer is considered one of the strongest players in the Tampa Bay area. At the a recent Under Armour Combine, Joyer turned in the top performance in the bench press: 34 reps at 185 pounds. Joyer is a former age group world record holder in weight lifting with a max bench of 485 pounds.