San Diego (Calif.) Mesa College 2020 defensive end Alex Lemon has made moves on the junior college level and the University of Florida, along with a slew of other top schools, have taken notice.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by prestigious programs,” Lemons said. “Florida being the first SEC offer is a blessing and I’m thankful for Coach [Ron] English seeing something in me.”
English, a California native who is integral in the Gators’ west coast recruiting, is the San Diego native’s primary recruiter at Florida. Despite the fact that Lemon received his offer just over a week ago, he already rates his relationship with English as “pretty good.”
“He’s big on school, which I like a lot, but he’s very energetic and is a very good coach.”
Coming out of high school the 6-foot-4, 275-pounder told Inside the Gators he was recruited by schools including Utah, Wyoming, and Washington, but academics kept him out of Division I.
“I had no choice but to go JUCO if I wanted to keep on playing,” he admitted.
One year later, according to 247 JUCO Composite Ranking Lemon is the fifth-ranked defensive end and fifteenth-ranked overall player out of all junior college prospects.
He will be completing his two years at San Diego Mesa College next May, but said the entire experience proved to be helpful.
“I can honestly say I’m glad that I decided to go this route. It’s matured me and helped me along my recruiting process.”
Arizona State, LSU, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Nebraska, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, and Utah make up the rest of the defensive end’s offers. However, he is just enjoying the recruiting process for the time being and will sort out his visits at a later date.
Right now, he only has one visit to Oregon State – a two-and-a-half-hour flight from San Diego – scheduled.
As for making the cross-country trip to Gainesville?
“[I’m planning to visit] hopefully before the season.”