Goodman visits the Gators, Seminoles

Lakeland (Fla.) offensive lineman Evan Goodman has hit the road in recent weeks for a pair of visits to in-state institutions.

"In the past few weeks I went to Florida and Florida State," Goodman said.

The 6-foot-4, 288-pound lineman visited Florida for one of their first spring practices. He talked about his time in Gainesville.

"I met with the coaches and had a real good time," Goodman said. "I also had an opportunity to talk with the players. I sat in the offensive line meeting. I went into the weight room. I also toured the whole school this time. It was real nice."

During the visit, Goodman had an opportunity to speak with and spend time around offensive line coach Frank Verducci.

"He told me that they need a lot of offensive linemen this year," Goodman said. "He told me that he wants me to join the guy that already committed, Jessamen Dunker. He said that they are waiting on me to join him. He talked to me about the state of the program."

Goodman said that the Gators are interested in him as an offensive tackle.

Another coach that he had an opportunity to speak with was head coach Will Muschamp.

"I went into his office and spoke with him for a while," Goodman said. "We talked about how there is a pipeline between Lakeland and Florida. We talked about the guys from Lakeland who went to Florida over the past five or six years, there have been about nine of them. He asked if I was going to keep that going. He talked about how I would have a great chance to start there."

His most recent visit was to Florida State this past Saturday for the spring game. During his time on campus, he received a good bit of attention from a pair of staff members in Tallahassee.

"Coach (Rick) Trickett likes me a lot, he was talking to me and Andrus Peat, the offensive linemen from Arizona. The two of us (Goodman and Peat) hung out all day," Goodman said. "Before the game I talked to Jimbo Fisher and then I talked to him again after the game. I talked with some of the players. I sat in a meeting. I also watched the game."

The talented offensive lineman, who Florida State is interested in as a tackle or guard, talked about what message he received from the head coach of the Seminoles.

"He said that he loved how I play, my tenacity and how I play the game," Goodman said. "He said that I have great film. He said that I would have an opportunity to come there now and start. I know they signed a lot of offensive linemen last year, but he said that you can come in and start because they play their best linemen. He also talked about how during the (spring) game, they had a bunch of hurt linemen and could have used me."

Prior to his most recent trips to Florida State and Florida, Goodman had also visited Miami and Ohio State. He is supposed to visit Notre Dame, Ohio State and Arizona State in June.

Goodman, whose offer list currently includes Arizona State, Auburn, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Louisville, LSU, Marshall, Miami, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Ohio State, South Florida, and UCLA, talked about where his leaderboard stands at this time.

"I am approaching it very open because I want to see other schools," Goodman said. "I am trying to see more schools before I start narrowing it down."