A day after closing out his high school career with a state championship, four-star defensive lineman and Florida commit LJ McCray stopped by at Florida State for one final visit.

Part of the reason? He was already in Tallahassee as his Daytona Mainland team beat St. Augustine in the 3S FHSAA state title game Thursday afternoon at Florida A&M's Bragg Memorial Stadium.

"I was in town. I just wanted to stop by," McCray said Friday after wrapping up his FSU visit.

However, the visit also gave the FSU coaching staff one final chance to try to convince McCray to reconsider his pledge to the Gators which he made back on Oct. 21.

"I feel like the last bajillion times I've been here was kind of the same message," McCray said of the conversations he had with Mike Norvell, defensive ends coach John Papuchis and defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins. "Everything has been consistent the whole time, the same message."

For McCray, the No. 136 overall recruit and No. 8 defensive tackle in the 2024 class according to Rivals, the visit also provided him the chance to talk with standout FSU defensive end Jared Verse.

Verse, a likely first-round pick in next April's NFL Draft, was a part of the welcoming party that was outside FSU's Moore Athletic Center to greet McCray when he arrived on campus.

"I've seen him the last few times I've been here. He's a super humble guy, super down to earth. He's super cool, a nice person to meet for sure. Definitely a person you can talk to about things for sure..." McCray said. "He's super genuine so he's not going to be like, 'Oh come here, come here.' He's going to tell you to do what's best for you."

While FSU will have a starting defensive end spot open after Verse's all-but-certain departure, he said things like that won't factor into his deicsion.

"I'm a super realistic guy so I feel like knowing the person that I am, I can kind of fit into any situation and adapt to what I need to in order to get onto the field," McCray said. "I don't feel like any school I looked at was, 'Oh, this guy is leaving. I can come here.'"

After his visit to FSU on Friday, McCray said he's driving over to see Auburn on Saturday. He also didn't rule out visit plans for next weekend, but he said he has nothing set and no other places he wants to visit.

He's set to sign Dec. 20 and even during this weekend which has him taking visits elsewhere, keeps maintaining his commitment to UF is solid.

"I committed for a reason," McCray said. "It kind of took me a minute because I wanted to make sure that's where I wanted to be."

FSU official visit weekend updates

Follow The Osceola on Facebook

Follow The Osceola on Twitter

Subscribe to the Osceola's YouTube channel

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Apple

Subscribe to the Osceola's podcasts on Spotify