West Orange's Stone Forsythe commits to Florida Gators

WINTER GARDEN — He fielded offers from Division I FBS programs like Kentucky and Duke and had strong interest from programs such as Florida State and Auburn.

In the end, though, West Orange offensive lineman Stone Forsythe couldn’t resist the opportunity to become a Florida Gator.

A rising senior, Forsythe verbally committed to the Gators May 7.

“I’ve grown up a Gators fan — it’s always been a dream of mine to play in the Swamp,” Forsythe said at spring practice last week. 

The 6-foot-7, 320-pound lineman committed to Florida head coach Jim McElwain after receiving a scholarship offer from the Gators earlier in the week. He is the 10th commitment to the 2016 class for UF and the first offensive lineman in the bunch.

After being a part of the Warriors’ run to a district championship and first playoff victory in 2014, Forsythe is happy to have his college commitment decision in the rearview so he and his teammates can focus on taking the program to new heights in 2015 — starting with West Orange’s spring game on May 29 at Gainesville.

“Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I don’t have the weight (of the decision) on my shoulders, and I can just work, work, work,” Forsythe said.

Forsythe’s commitment is one of several potential high-profile commitments for the program. Fellow rising seniors Woody Barrett and Eddie McDoom also are fielding interest from a who’s who of college programs. Barrett, a quarterback, has offers from programs including Alabama, Ohio State, Louisville and Notre Dame. McDoom, a wide receiver, has offers from the Gators, Ohio State, Miami, Clemson and more.

Thanks in part to his commitment, Forsythe also got some additional attention as FoxSports.com, among a few other outlets, for a video the team had posted last season of a light-hearted blocking drill against Warriors offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Collin Drafts, who played professionally as a quarterback in the Arena Football League.

The headline for the post? 

“New Gator commit Stone Forsythe destroys his coach in practice.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].