Looking back on today, it will be easy to lament the losses.
Yes, the Gators were set and primed for -- at worst -- a top-five class when we looked into the future at the conclusion of National Signing Day 2014.
But, as the saying goes, "shit happens."
The end of the Will Muschamp "error" brought the Gators a new coach in Jim McElwain. And while "merely" a top-25 signing class will have to do, the Gators still met most of their needs and now have a roster stocked with enough talent to take a step forward in 2015.
The highlights of Wednesday:
Replenishing the Line-of-Scrimmage: Some unexpected losses on the offensive line left the Gators in a bit of a pinch there looking ahead to next year. With only eight returning scholarship offensive linemen. this was an area that needed to be addressed. McElwain and staff responded by picking up six signatures up front, highlighted by Apopka five-star Martez Ivey, generally considered to be the #1 offensive line prospect in the country. Overall, the Gators signed 11 linemen in total, which was just one of the mark I set as the goal they needed to hit. Both lines are in fairly good shape moving forward for the Gators.
Home is where the heart is: Of the 21 players to sign with the Gators, 15 were from Florida and 5 were from Georgia (ATH Kylan Johnson, of Texas, being the lone newbie to hail from elsewhere). Obviously, not every year is going to be like this, and the circumstances of a new coaching staff helped to dictate where the Gators were going to focus their efforts heading up to National Signing Day. However, this is a good model for where Florida should get the majority of their recruits moving forward. Fans will be happy about these numbers.
Getting a game-breaker: Antonio Callaway was a surprise get for Florida on National Signing Day. While most had him pegged for Miami, there was some growing buzz in regards to Callaway and the Gators in the final 48 hours before he signed. It would not surprise me to see Callaway make a push to get on the field early in his career in Gainesville. His decision made up for the loss of Ryan Davis to Auburn. And given the choice of one or the other, I think Florida got the better player.
Hitting a home run in the backfield: The Gators picked up quite the running back trio in Jordan Scarlett, Jordan Cronkrite and D'Anfernee McGriff. Scarlett is a tremendous all-around back, who will likely push to get on the field early, despite the presence of both Kelvin Taylor and Adam Lane on the roster. McGriff is a match-up nightmare who could contribute in a number of ways, including as a bit of a FB/H-Back hybrid. Cronkrite is a great all-around athlete, and I ultimately wouldn't be surprised if he ends up on defense as a safety down the line.
Getting to 21: That McElwain was able to sign 21 on Wednesday was pretty impressive in itself. Florida's last two "transition classes" had 18 (Meyer, 2005) and 19 (Muschamp, 2011), respectively. In Ann Arbor, Jim Harbaugh managed to sign just 14 on Wednesday (although it should be noted that he got the job several weeks after McElwain took the reins in Gainesville).
CeCe: Ole Miss had been trending with five-star DE CeCe Jefferson for a while now. But the home-grown star spurned the Rebels to stick with his childhood favorite. A huge get for the Gators, no doubt.
We would be remiss if we didn't look at some of the misses as well:
Where are the quarterbacks? Although Jim McElwain and offensive coordinator kicked the tires on several other names, Florida concentrated most of their recruiting efforts on a pair of in-state signal callers: Deondre Francois and Lamar Jackson. Both ultimately stuck with their commitments -- Francois to Florida State and Jackson to Louisville -- despite some drama from both in the days leading up to National Signing Day. McElwain will now presumably head into next year with just three scholarship quarterbacks: Skyler Mornhinweg, Will Grier and Treon Harris, despite the fact that McElwain seemed to leave the door open for another addition at the position during his National Signing Day press conference.
A lack of skill: One miss on Wednesday for Florida that I thought was somewhat overlooked was Javarius Davis out of Jacksonville. Although a bit lacking in size at around 5-foot-10 and 175 pounds, Davis was one of the fastest prospects in the state, a potential contributor on either side of the ball, and extremely physical for his size. Seven was the target number I had pegged for the skill positions, and the Gators ultimately landed six. Another defensive back in this class would have been nice, however.
The linebacker quandry: One of the storylines heading into Wednesday was the possibility of a late flip by Adonis Thomas to Florida off of an Alabama commitment. It made sense. Alabama isn't lacking in players at the position, while at UF there appeared to be an opportunity for Thomas to get on the field early. The switch didn't happen, however as Thomas stuck with the Crimson Tide. Florida landed just two players -- Rayshad Jackson and Kalen Johnson -- at a position where taking four wouldn't have been a bad idea. Both will need a couple of years of development to make an impact as well.
Byron: All things considered, it's hard to be down on this class too much. But Byron Cowart to Auburn ... sign. What could have been.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Line-of-scrimmage a priority late for Gators on the recruiting trail
With a flurry of commitments coming out of Florida's biggest recruiting weekend of the year, Florida now stands at 13 pledges for the 2015 recruiting cycle, with the potential to add upwards of about 10 more between now and Wednesday, when those commitments can be put to paper. Potentially a great finish for Jim McElwain and his staff, to be sure.
That said, what is really impressive about this group, is the work being down down the home stretch on both sides of the line-of-scrimmage. All three of the commitments made to Florida this weekend have come from linemen and with less than three days to go until National Signing Day, 8 of the Gators' 13 pledges are from linemen.
There's still work to be done, however. The target number I assigned for this group a couple of weeks ago was 12. That's 12 total linemen in this class, since some of these targets and commitments -- Luc Bequette, G.G. Robinson, and possibly even Andrew Ivie and Luke Ancrum -- could ultimately project on either side of the ball in college.
A weekend visit to Auburn by Florida pledge Mike Horton potentially has his status with UF on shaky ground. So the target number for McElwain and staff to land over the next couple of days is 4-5 linemen -- a number very much attainable considering the number of prospects still on the board for Florida.
TE/OL/DT G.G. Robinson
OT Martez Ivey
OT Tyree St. Louis
OG Nick Buchanan
OG/OC Quarvez Boulware
OC/DT Luc Bequette
DE Byron Cowart
DE Keivonnis Davis
DE/DT CeCe Jefferson
Ultimately Florida may not land four (or five) of the nine prospects listed above, but it's not out of the realm of possibility, especially considering Florida seems to be trending very heavily for several of these prospects.
And the board may be bigger than this. Florida has seemingly been a bit cloak-and-dagger about some of the visits being taken. Is it possible that a player or two snuck in under-the-radar? Is a player like DT Kahlil Welsh, a Wake Forest commitment out of Jacksonville Sandalwood who was scheduled to visit UF this weekend but went to Illinois instead, still a possibility? Could there be others in that vein on the board?
In any case, the late push on both sides of the line of scrimmage has been mighty impressive by McElwain & Co. Even if Florida doesn't get to 12 as I have suggested they aim for, they're going to get awfully close. As much as Muschamp stressed that the SEC was a "line-of-scrimmage league" during his time in Gainesville, the numbers on both sides of the ball were often leaving a bit to be desired during his tenure. While McElwain hasn't stressed those words quite as much when addressing the media, his actions sure are backing that notion up.
That said, what is really impressive about this group, is the work being down down the home stretch on both sides of the line-of-scrimmage. All three of the commitments made to Florida this weekend have come from linemen and with less than three days to go until National Signing Day, 8 of the Gators' 13 pledges are from linemen.
There's still work to be done, however. The target number I assigned for this group a couple of weeks ago was 12. That's 12 total linemen in this class, since some of these targets and commitments -- Luc Bequette, G.G. Robinson, and possibly even Andrew Ivie and Luke Ancrum -- could ultimately project on either side of the ball in college.
A weekend visit to Auburn by Florida pledge Mike Horton potentially has his status with UF on shaky ground. So the target number for McElwain and staff to land over the next couple of days is 4-5 linemen -- a number very much attainable considering the number of prospects still on the board for Florida.
TE/OL/DT G.G. Robinson
OT Martez Ivey
OT Tyree St. Louis
OG Nick Buchanan
OG/OC Quarvez Boulware
OC/DT Luc Bequette
DE Byron Cowart
DE Keivonnis Davis
DE/DT CeCe Jefferson
Ultimately Florida may not land four (or five) of the nine prospects listed above, but it's not out of the realm of possibility, especially considering Florida seems to be trending very heavily for several of these prospects.
And the board may be bigger than this. Florida has seemingly been a bit cloak-and-dagger about some of the visits being taken. Is it possible that a player or two snuck in under-the-radar? Is a player like DT Kahlil Welsh, a Wake Forest commitment out of Jacksonville Sandalwood who was scheduled to visit UF this weekend but went to Illinois instead, still a possibility? Could there be others in that vein on the board?
In any case, the late push on both sides of the line of scrimmage has been mighty impressive by McElwain & Co. Even if Florida doesn't get to 12 as I have suggested they aim for, they're going to get awfully close. As much as Muschamp stressed that the SEC was a "line-of-scrimmage league" during his time in Gainesville, the numbers on both sides of the ball were often leaving a bit to be desired during his tenure. While McElwain hasn't stressed those words quite as much when addressing the media, his actions sure are backing that notion up.
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