White had more to say about Allen today, but here's my feature from Sunday on Allen: https://florida.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1842210
White on re-recruiting Allen to UF after Billy Donovan left to the NBA: “I want to say I went to KeVaughn’s house before I even got to campus, because I was up in Ruston already. If I remember correctly. First order of business was an opportunity to sit down with each of the guys who had signed with Coach Donovan and his staff. KeVaughn being the closest to Ruston was the first guy we had an opportunity to see as a staff. Obviously, he was really important. We went into those meetings open-minded, doing our best to sell what we had accomplished and the style of play in which we had played at Louisiana Tech. We started to try and fast-track a relationship as much as possible. We thought it went pretty well and we were invited to do another in-home visit about a week after, in memory serves correctly, and had another good meeting with KeVaughn and his family. We’re glad those meetings went well. He’s coming into his own. He’s one of the more talented freshmen in our league. He’s a great kid, he lives in the gym and is only going to get better."
On Allen's confidence: “It really hasn’t been, all year, his confidence has remained steady. He’s like that. I think you guys can see, all of our fans can see as well, he’s pretty stoic, he’s like Chris Chiozza in that their energy level, their facial expressions, they never really change. And we see it every day in practice, it’s the same thing. It wasn’t really a bold prediction on my part. Anyone on our staff, anyone that matters could have told you it was only a matter of time before he breaks. I’m not sure, to be honest, I would have predicted he’d be this consistent over this many games in the middle of the season. He’s really been mature as of late for a freshmen. Obviously we really hope it continues. He also shouldn’t shoulder the burden of being our leading scorer night in and night out. That’s fine if it he is. As a freshman he shouldn’t feel that pressure. We’ve got to do it by committee.”
On Allen's work ethic: "I can't remember if I said this at a press conference or at an alumni gathering or what not, but a funny story on KeVaughn. Throughout the recruiting process with him, I promised him that he'd have access as much as he wanted to the gym and that he's going to be living in a dorm really close to the gym and he's such a gym rat, as are a few of our other guys, but none more than KeVaughn. I was on the road recruiting in July when he was in summer school and he said coach, he texted me that he needed to talk. I called him and he said he didn't have access to the gym that morning and it bothered him a little bit. He wondered if I could remedy that. I said 'Yeah. I wonder what the problem is.' I had our operations guy get in touch with, I think probably you Jack, I'm not sure, and they found out he tried to use his key card to get access to the gym that morning. But the key doesn't work at 4:30 a.m. That's probably a little earlier than they're used to. So he's in the gym a bunch. Early in the morning, between classes, late at night, and that's a good sign. We wish all of our guys would be in the gym as much as possible. He's paid his dues."
White on re-recruiting Allen to UF after Billy Donovan left to the NBA: “I want to say I went to KeVaughn’s house before I even got to campus, because I was up in Ruston already. If I remember correctly. First order of business was an opportunity to sit down with each of the guys who had signed with Coach Donovan and his staff. KeVaughn being the closest to Ruston was the first guy we had an opportunity to see as a staff. Obviously, he was really important. We went into those meetings open-minded, doing our best to sell what we had accomplished and the style of play in which we had played at Louisiana Tech. We started to try and fast-track a relationship as much as possible. We thought it went pretty well and we were invited to do another in-home visit about a week after, in memory serves correctly, and had another good meeting with KeVaughn and his family. We’re glad those meetings went well. He’s coming into his own. He’s one of the more talented freshmen in our league. He’s a great kid, he lives in the gym and is only going to get better."
On Allen's confidence: “It really hasn’t been, all year, his confidence has remained steady. He’s like that. I think you guys can see, all of our fans can see as well, he’s pretty stoic, he’s like Chris Chiozza in that their energy level, their facial expressions, they never really change. And we see it every day in practice, it’s the same thing. It wasn’t really a bold prediction on my part. Anyone on our staff, anyone that matters could have told you it was only a matter of time before he breaks. I’m not sure, to be honest, I would have predicted he’d be this consistent over this many games in the middle of the season. He’s really been mature as of late for a freshmen. Obviously we really hope it continues. He also shouldn’t shoulder the burden of being our leading scorer night in and night out. That’s fine if it he is. As a freshman he shouldn’t feel that pressure. We’ve got to do it by committee.”
On Allen's work ethic: "I can't remember if I said this at a press conference or at an alumni gathering or what not, but a funny story on KeVaughn. Throughout the recruiting process with him, I promised him that he'd have access as much as he wanted to the gym and that he's going to be living in a dorm really close to the gym and he's such a gym rat, as are a few of our other guys, but none more than KeVaughn. I was on the road recruiting in July when he was in summer school and he said coach, he texted me that he needed to talk. I called him and he said he didn't have access to the gym that morning and it bothered him a little bit. He wondered if I could remedy that. I said 'Yeah. I wonder what the problem is.' I had our operations guy get in touch with, I think probably you Jack, I'm not sure, and they found out he tried to use his key card to get access to the gym that morning. But the key doesn't work at 4:30 a.m. That's probably a little earlier than they're used to. So he's in the gym a bunch. Early in the morning, between classes, late at night, and that's a good sign. We wish all of our guys would be in the gym as much as possible. He's paid his dues."
