Palm Bay RB to attend War on I-4
UCF and USF will battle on the gridiron this Thanksgiving night.
In the weeks to come, both schools may be battling on the recruiting trail for Palm Bay running back Brian Lankford-Johnson who will be inside Bright House Networks Stadium to see the rivalry matchup for himself.
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Lankford-Johnson is a newer name in the Central Florida recruiting scene having moved from St. Paul, Minn., to Brevard County prior to his junior season. He didn't have the immediate impact he would have hoped as a broken toe sidelined him for most of the season.
He came back strong as a senior, rushing for 1,900 yards and 22 touchdowns, and has already been named All-District and All-Conference. He's also been nominated to play in the annual Central Florida High School All-Star game.
Offers have surfaced so far from USF, Cincinnati, Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, Bethune-Cookman and UT-Martin.
UCF is also incredibly interested and they invited Lankford-Johnson to campus last Friday to make an unofficial visit.
"It was my first time seeing UCF," Lankford-Johnson said. "I met with the coaching staff last spring, maybe a couple times. Just the typical bumps, how are you doing. This season my recruiting has really picked up. I picked up an offer from USF and they didn't like that. They ended up recruiting me hard too and wanted me to see how UCF was. I had time Friday so I went up there just to see how it is. It was beautiful."
Interim head coach Danny Barrett had been Lankford-Johnson's primary recruiter, but those duties have since been handed off to special teams coach Mike Buscemi.
"I saw everything around football," Lankford-Johnson said. "We went around the facilities, the locker room, the weight room and met all the coaches. I saw everything around there. The coaches told me this is a place I should be. They want me really bad and there would be playing time available."
The staff told Lankford-Johnson he's deserving of an offer, but everything is on hold until UCF names a new head coach.
"They'll let me know what's going on by early December," Lankford-Johnson said. "Until they know who the head coach is going to be they couldn't really tell me. They don't know if they're going to stay together or there will be a new staff. They'll tell the new head coach about me and they think whoever that is would probably like me as well. But they can't make any final decisions right now."
Regardless of the coaching situation, Lankford-Johnson says there's a lot to like about the Knights.
"I like that everything is really close together," Lankford-Johnson said. "The facilities are new. What really stuck out to me was the recruiting room. They have so many guys that have played in the NFL and have been drafted. Not just drafted, but people who have been successful in the league. That's really important to me."
In addition to the six offers, Lankford-Johnson is fielding calls from other schools as well. There's been talk about scheduling official visits, but nothing has been scheduled thus far.
"I'll have a top three I'll be announcing in a few weeks," Lankford-Johnson said. "Maybe a top four. It depends on UCF and who their new head coach is. The deciding factor will be location. That's a big part. I have a family, a little boy. I'll have to see how my family feels about the school. Playing time is important, but not too important. I don't mind sitting out a year if it's for the best. I think I'm ready, but I'm still small and could get bigger. Then I'll look at the coaches and how the team is."
Lankford-Johnson attended a USF game several weeks ago. Thursday will be his first UCF game.
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