If you spend a few minutes looking over the Florida football roster, it's abundantly clear they are built to win, and possibly win big in 2014. A large junior class (currently at 22, but likely to lose a couple of guys to the NFL after this season) supports this notion. The Gators are deep and talented at a number of positions: UF will likely return two quarterbacks with at least 10 games of starting experience in Jeff Driskel and Tyler Murphy next year, several talented and proven running backs including Matt Jones and Mack Brown, a large number of offensive and defensive linemen are slated to return, proven linebackers in Antonio Morrison and Michael Taylo will be back, along with a host of gifted young players at both wide receiver and in the secondary.
However, there are shaping up to be some holes on the depth chart as well. The Gators could realistically dip into the JUCO ranks at a number of positions in an effort to shore up some spots on the roster. Let me be clear, I'm not advocating for a widespread addition of talent from the junior college ranks. However, there are five spots where Florida could bring in a transfer and it would make a lot of sense from the perspective that those players would come in handy since UF has a chance to potentially win it all next season.
1. Cornerback: If both Loucheiz Purifoy and Marcus Roberson head off to the NFL next year, there will be a major hole on the depth chart at cornerback. Florida is targeting a wide range of corners from the high school ranks, and will likely end up signing 4-5 players from the prep ranks that end up on the back end for the Class of 2014. But in this scenario, there would be just two true cornerbacks on the roster returning in sophomore Vernon Hargreaves and redshirt freshman Nick Washington. Sure, senior Cody Riggs (playing safety this year) and junior Brian Poole (who has mostly been used as a nickelback) have experience at the position as well. I'm not sure either guy can be relied on to hold down a corner position for the entire season, however. The right guy from the JUCO ranks (former five-star recruit Tee Shepard, now at Holmes C.C. in Mississippi, perhaps?) could make a lot of sense for the Gators in 2015.
2. Wide Receiver: The Gators have seen a rejuvenation in the wide receiving corps this fall. A lot of this success is likely owed to new wide receivers coach Joker Phillips, who has his unit playing beautifully. Of the top three receivers on the team, two of them (Trey Burton and Solomon Patton) will be gone after the season. While the Gators have a couple of talented young players waiting in the wings (Ahmad Fulwood and Demarcus Robinson), it wouldn't be a bad idea to add a talented JUCO player to the mix as well, just to give a little additional depth
3. Defensive Line: Considering the huge, gaping hole at defensive tackle between Darious Cummings and Leon Orr and the three highly-touted freshmen tackles signed this past February (Bostwick, Brantley and Riles), signing a junior college defensive lineman would make a lot of sense. Even if, say, Jonathan Bullard made the transition to more of a defensive tackle next fall, then grabbing a JUCO end would make a lot of sense. It appears to be a strong year for prospects on the defensive front. Florida has already made a run at DaVonte Lambert (Tennessee) and Abu Lamin (South Carolina). It's clear that it's an idea both Will Muschamp and Brad Lawing are open to – if they can the right guy, that is.
4. Offensive Line: The numbers really shouldn't figure to be an issue looking ahead to next year. The left side of the line (Humphries at tackle, Garcia at guard) is strong and should remain intact heading into 2014. There are a number of options who should be able to fill the other three positions (Brown, Green, Moore and Silberman jump to the forefront) and a couple of young guys should make the next step and jump into the mix for a starting job and/or considerable playing time (namely Octavious Jackson and Trip Thurman). However, throwing another transfer lineman into the mix who could push the others are the roster for a starting spot wouldn't be the worst outcome in the world.
5. Tight End: If you consider the complete lack of production at this spot, it makes a lot of sense. However, the fact of the matter is there just aren't a lot of realistic options out there for the 2014 class. Jean Sifrin (6-7, 255, El Camino College) is a native of Miami and claims some major offers (Oklahoma being the biggest). Braedon Bowman (6-4, 225, Scottsdale C.C.) is putting together a big-time campaign this fall, but I'm not sure he's exactly an SEC-caliber player. There's also Ricky Parks, the former highly-touted recruit from Auburn, who is at Northeast Mississippi C.C., but it's not clear yet when he will have the credits in order to transfer to a four-year school. All things considered, Florida appears to be focused primarily towards going the high school route in signing two tight ends for 2014, and that's appears to be the right idea as of now.
Again, the point isn't that Florida needs to take JUCO players at all of these spots. But it would make sense for UF to take a junior college transfer at any one of these positions. My hunch is that UF will eventually land 2-3 in this class, and it's hard to believe they won't come from the above-listed spots on the roster.
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