Demarkcus Bowman lands at Florida

Our guys over at InsideTheGators.com have the latest on former Clemson running back Demarkcus Bowman’s move to Gainesville.

Last August, at one of Inside the Gators Wednesday Recruiting Roadtrips, during a stop at Lakeland (Fla.) High School, despite the fact that he was at that point committed to Clemson, five-star running back Demarkcus Bowman‍ walked by and gave a Gator Chomp before speaking about his love of the Florida Gators.

“I do that all the time because I've been a Florida fan since I was little and Urban Meyer was the coach,” explained Bowman. “When they brought in all of those players they signed from around here [Florida signed seven Dreadnaught prospects in the Class of 2007] I started following them. I still love Florida, I'll probably always be a fan and follow them.”

However, of course, his love of Florida couldn't come close in comparison to his love for his grandfather. On Saturday Bowman said that one of the main reasons he chose Clemson over Florida was so that his grandfather, who resided in Atlanta, could see him play in person.

"I wanted to be close enough so that he could see me play," said Bowman. "Since we moved down to Florida he only got to see me play when we were on TV, but that's it. He could have seen me every home game [at Clemson].”

Unfortunately, Bowman's grandfather passed away, lessening his desire to be so far away from his family.

Earlier this week when he entered the transfer portal, the immediate scuttlebutt was that he would eventually land in Gainesville.

That was for good reason.

"Florida didn't text me until I was in the portal, but I kind of already had my mind made up," said Bowman. "I have four of my [former Dreadnaughts] teammates there, it's close to home and I'm a fan."

Bowman, who was in the middle of watching Florida playing South Carolina, said that he will enroll at the University of Florida in January in time to go through spring practice.

If all of UF's running backs return, he'll face competing with five scholarship backs.

Competition though doesn't deter him

"All I can do is put God first and continue to work hard and then time will tell who plays."