UCF welcomes top DE target to spring game

One of UCF's top defensive targets made it down to Orlando last weekend to attend the spring game.

Dal'Mont Gourdine, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end, attends Garrett Academy in Charleston, S.C., and has been in frequent contact with defensive line coach Shane Burnham and several other staff members since picking up his offer in early March.

"What impressed me the most is the way the coaches approached me," Gourdine said. "They made me feel like I was one of their sons or something. They said I'm on the top of their list for 2019 class and they hope to have me here. They were happy I could make it down there and want to see me back down there."

What did he like the most about his visit to UCF?

"The campus and stadium," Gourdine said. "I also liked their academics. I want to major in business."

His other offers so far include Georgia State, Middle Tennessee, Coastal Carolina and Western Kentucky, but other schools are beginning to come on strong. That list includes Clemson, whose defensive line coach told him during a recent visit that he's the "most slept-on recruit in South Carolina."

Gourdine, who has the option to be a January enrollee, says he doesn't have a set favorites list yet but knows the Knights would be on it.

"UCF would be top five," he said.