FRESHMAN FOCUS:Â
DB Jaydon Hill |Â
QB Jalon Jones |Â
OL Kingsley Eguakun |Â
LB Jesiah Pierre |Â
OL Michael Tarquin |
OL Ethan White
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The moment is one Chris Steele will never forget. On Jan. 5 in San Antonio, Steele stood in front of a national television audience on
NBC at the All-American Bowl.
On Steele's right stood his parents, Maria and Norman Steele. To his left, NBC announcer Lewis Johnson. On a table in front of him, caps of Oregon, USC, Florida, South Carolina and Oklahoma.
Johnson soon popped the question. A cornerback ranked the 95th overall player in the 2019 class by
ESPN.com, Steele reached for the Florida hat, placed it on his head and did a Gator Chomp. A few days later he stood inside the Gators' locker room at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, 2,500 miles from his Los Angeles-area home.
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As memorable as that moment was for Steele, he recalls one from two years earlier that opened his eyes to the thought that it might be possible. In the 2016 California Interscholastic Federation playoffs at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, a crowd of 10,000 turned out for a matchup between Steele's St. John Bosco team and national powerhouse Mater Dei.
A Braves sophomore, Steele spent much of St. John Bosco's 42-28 victory covering receiver Osiris St. Brown, a Stanford commit at the time and now a Cardinal sophomore. Steele took the challenge head on and held Brown without a catch.
He considers it to date the best day he's had playing the game.
"I take pride in that,'' Steele said.
The 6-foot-2, 182-pound Steele started to garner interest from college programs after a steady freshman season, but after his sophomore year, major FBS programs began to call. He committed to hometown USC the summer following his junior season, but as the Trojans stumbled in 2018 and underwent changes on their coaching staff, Steele began to take a deeper look at the Gators under head coach
Dan Mullen.
By the time those
NBC cameras lit up in front of him, Steele knew where he was headed. In our ongoing series to introduce Florida's nine mid-year enrollees on FloridaGators.com, here is our Q&A with Steele:
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Q: Growing up in Southern California, how much time have you spent in Florida?
A: I came unofficially and I came on an official, so I visited twice. I just like the state of Florida. I played a game in Fort Lauderdale against St. Thomas Aquinas my junior year; competed in the [Under-Armour] Future 50 in Orlando, so that was pretty cool, too. I just like the state.
Q: Did you know anyone well on the team?
A: Just from my recruiting trips, I knew Trey Dean, Randy [Russell],
Emory Jones, some of those dudes, and all the recruits from my class. Me and Jaydon Hill are pretty tight.
Q: What is your goal in enrolling early this spring?
A: I guess you could say the main reason I enrolled early was to get acclimated to college, get used to the speed of the game. In spring ball I'm going to have an opportunity to do that. I want to have the opportunity to go against dudes like Van [Jefferson], Tre Grimes, Feleipe [Franks], competing against them every day is going to make me such a better player. It's going to put me over the edge when fall camp comes around.
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Freshman cornerback Chris Steele
Q: Did you know much about cornerbacks coach Torrian Gray before he was hired?
A: I did talk to him when he got hired. He called me later on that night and just let me know that he watched my film and he's real excited about me. He has a pretty good tradition here. His name holds a little bit of weight, a dude who coached in the league, so I'm real excited to play for him.
Q: What about Florida made you want to move across country for college?
A: For me the main selling point was the tradition, especially at my position. It's DBU for a reason – we produce defensive backs here. I just wanted the opportunity to be next up and make a name for myself and everybody back home.
Q: What do you think you do well as a player at this stage of your career?
A: If I could describe myself as a player right now, it's kind of different because in high school I was 'the guy.' Now I'm just
one of the guys. I'm a defensive back that's coming up trying to make a name for himself as the best defensive back in college football.
Q: What about as far as your skill-set?
A: I'm more of a physical corner. Of course, picks are all good and stuff, but I like to come downhill and hit people. I like to hit the big dudes in run support.
Q: Were you a multi-sport athlete as a kid?
A: Growing up I was a baseball player up until like sixth grade. I was
really a baseball player and I didn't actually start playing DB until my freshman year of high school. I was playing safety and got moved to corner when the season started. After my freshman year, I started picking up a few offers. As a sophomore I started to get offered from big schools. I just kind of took off from there. I started off as a baseball player and then I saw myself developing as a football player and I just thought it would be better for my future if I focused on that.
Q: What was it like playing at a high school with such a strong football tradition?
A: St. John Bosco, one of the top teams in the country year in and year out. We were actually the No. 1 team in the country leading up to my last game of the season. I come from a very big school. The name of my school holds a little weight. We play against some of the top dudes in the country. Every game I'm playing against one of the top receivers in the country.
Q: How difficult of a decision was it to go to college so far from home?
A: Leaving California for me was real hard. I think I'm the only dude on the team east of Texas. I'm a long way from home, but I came here to have an opportunity to set up a new future for my parents, my little sister, and my nieces and nephews. I have an opportunity to set up a better future for them.
Q: You come from a big family?
A: I come from a good-sized family. I have a lot of younger cousins, my godson, my little sister. It was a big sacrifice for me, but I know the University of Florida is going to put me in the best position to make some stuff happen.
Q: Any of your family play college football?
A: My dad played defensive end at New Mexico State.
Q: What's something most people don't know about you?
A: I feel like when your name has some weight, I guess I would say, there's a lot of people scared to reach out to you. But I actually enjoy helping people. Anybody has any problems or anything, I'm the first person that is going to hop up and help them out. That's something that people really don't know about me. I like to give back I guess you could say.
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