UCF commit gets UAB offer

Tuscaloosa (Ala.) Northridge tight end J.R. Sandlin committed to UCF this summer, but some other schools have stayed in touch. Now UAB is stepping up the competition for him, extending a scholarship offer over the weekend.

“I’m a pretty firm commitment to UCF, I’m just getting letters from places now, but I did get a scholarship offer from UAB this weekend,” Sandlin said. “It’s been fun going around to places. I went to see Arkansas-Alabama and Vanderbilt-Mississippi State. I went to UCF-West Virginia earlier this year, too.”

Even with a new scholarship on the table, it seems as if it will take a fairly huge push to sway Sandlin from his original pledge.

“I thought the coaches were really great and the atmosphere there [at UCF], they were real ‘people’ people,” he said. “Their facilities are top notch, and I love Coach O’Leary [UCF head coach George]. He’s real straight with me, and I talk to him a lot when he calls just to check in and see how I’m doing. I just talked to him on Wednesday.”

With official visits still in the planning, anything is possible. Yet, the more the process goes along, the more Sandlin seems convinced of his decision.

“The first weekend in December I’m taking a visit to UCF,” Sandlin said. “My recruiting coach there, Joe Gilbert, is also coming up to check me out. I think it’ll be fun to finally meet him, he seems really nice, and he’s from New York or something so I think we may have to take him to the big barbecue place here, Dreamland.”

If he does head to UCF, or UAB, Sandlin will be breaking with family tradition. Both his father and mother went to Alabama, where his dad spent time with the football program.

“My dad, Richard Sandlin, was the strength coach late in Coach Bryant’s [legendary Alabama coach Paul ‘Bear’] career, and he still holds a bunch of weight lifting world records. The best he ever did was a 1003-pound squat lift. My strength in football is clearing down the line on run blocking, and my dad helps me condition for that. My best squat-lift is 645 pounds. Our running backs like the diesel holes I open up for them.”