From Alabama 247 interview with Bogle's mom this morning:
“Well this is my first time going through all of this,” Bogle’s mother, Octavia Bates, “No one ever warned me about this. But, to me, all of this is a cutthroat environment, because coaches leave and go to other schools. I told him, you just have to forget about the coaches right now.”
Coaching changes have been a hot topic the last couple of weeks as the Alabama staff has seen significant turnover. Bogle’s secondary recruiter
Tosh Lupoi took the Cleveland Browns defensive line coaching job. The Tide sent the 4-star edge rusher’s primary recruiter
Joe Pannunzio along with new assistant
Sal Sunseri — Bogle’s primary recruiter from his time with the Gators — to South Florida to visit on Monday.
“I know they just hired some new coaches,” Bates said. “I know they’re trying to fill the gap.”
Bates was not in attendance for the in-home visit on Monday as she was still traveling home from the Polynesian Bowl in Hawaii. Of note regarding the new staff hires at Alabama, Bates says
Charles Kelly has been recruiting the All-American since his time at Florida State. Kelly was his primary recruiter at Tennessee as well, so there’s longstanding relationship there.
This weekend, the plan is to take an official visit to Florida, which will be the last official visit on Bogle’s slate. Next weekend, the final weekend before National Signing Day, the family is considering an unofficial visit to Miami.
“I want him to go to the school that’s going to develop him the most,” Bates said of her preference. “I know any of the four schools are good schools. He has relationships with most of the coaches. But when it comes down to the football part and the development part, I just feel like Coach (Nick) Saban would be the go-to guy … just looking at his record. Tennessee and Miami, they’re fairly new head coaches; I don’t know much about UF’s head coach, so I can’t speak on that. That’s just how I feel — that Saban would be the one that would develop him for the next level. He wants to play on Sundays. That’s been the goal this whole time.”
With Feb. 6 just over two weeks away, looking at it right now, does Bates anticipate her son signing with the Tide?
“I really don’t know,” she said. “I told him I want him to go for the school. Even this morning, we had a short conversation, I told him I want you to eliminate all the coaches and go for the school. So we’ll see.”
