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Lake Mary offensive tackle Josh Raymond had been comfortably committed to play at Vanderbilt since June, so when he learned his future coaches were coming to pay him an in-home visit in December he wasn’t expecting anything but formalities.
Head coach Clark Lea and offensive line coach AJ Blazek, however, had a big surprise for the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Raymond. Upon their arrival, they informed him that he had been added to the roster for the Under Armour All-American Game and he was ecstatic.
“When Coach Lea and Coach Blaz came down … the head coach was in my house and he said, ‘Josh, we just want to let you know you made it into the Under Armour All-American Game,’” said Raymond, who will be one of about 120 players suiting up for the last time in Wednesday’s game at Camping World Stadium (ESPN, 4).
“So that was cool, and then the ESPN guy called me right after. That was just cool.”
Raymond, the No. 39 player in the Sentinel’s 2024 Central Florida Super60, is obviously excited to play in the game, but he said he’s not just some alternate that was added to the lineup to fill a hole.
“I’m going out there to compete. I’ve played against guys like LJ McCray [Daytona Beach Mainland],” Raymond said. “They won the state championship and we went out there and killed them [33-0, Nov. 4]. I went against him during a camp, too, … so I’ve performed against him.
“I’m ready to come out here and play against guys like him and have fun and compete.”
Raymond was solid with Vanderbilt most of the time during the recruiting cycle, but Stanford came in at one point and tried to rock the boat.
“For a mintute there, it was scary, I was about to go to Stanford, actually,” Raymond said. “I took an OV [official visit] out there Dec. 1, so they had me on the fence.”
His loyalty to his original…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/vandy-coaches-surprise-lake-mary-010000823.html
Author : Orlando Sentinel
Publish date : 2024-01-03 01:00:00
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