Category: Football Recruiting

Florida coaches to visit with this 5-star target’s family

Several UF assistants will reportedly take a trip to see the uncle of Cypress, Texas, prospect Harold Perkins, who visited Gainesville this weekend.

The Gators are making a hard push for five-star linebacker Harold Perkins, a Cypress, Texas, product who ranks as the top linebacker and No. 5 overall player in the 2022 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. Though Perkins committed to in-state Texas A&M at the Under Armour All-American Bowl on Jan. 2, he is still fielding interest from a number of other suitors.

Perkins is currently en route to Hawaii to take part in the Polynesian Bowl, and UF’s coaches plan to meet with him once he returns. However, Billy Napier and Co. don’t want to wait that long. While Perkins is out of town, Florida’s coaches plan to visit with his uncle on Monday.

According to On3’s Corey Bender, cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond, co-defensive coordinator Patrick Toney and defensive analyst Jamar Chaney are the coaches expected to be in attendance for that visit.

Perkins is coming off a trip to Gainesville this weekend. He told reporters after the trip that he saw some things he didn’t expect.

“It’s very down-to-earth (here),” Perkins said. “I love the people; the people here are amazing. They show you a lot of love. I always said I wanted to be an x-factor, and that’s kind of how coach Napier sees me.

“The whole visit to wrap it up, it was fun and exciting. I don’t want to say I was surprised, but I didn’t expect to see a lot of the stuff I saw. I didn’t know whether I was going to like it or not, but I love it. It was legit.”

Beating out an in-state team that already holds Perkins’ commitment won’t be easy, but the Gators seem to be decently positioned to make a run at the elite prospect. If UF could secure his pledge, Perkins would become the first top-five prospect to sign with Florida since Martez Ivey in coach Jim McElwain’s transition class in 2015.

UF’s 2022 class currently ranks just 35th nationally and last in the SEC, but that ranking rises to 13th nationally when you factor in transfers, of which the Gators have currently landed six.

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Here’s where Florida stands in latest ESPN recruiting rankings

Florida rose 16 spots in the latest ESPN recruiting rankings but still has a lot of work to do.

Gators coach Billy Napier inherited an absolute mess of a recruiting class when he took over in Gainesville last month, and though it’s far from a finished product now, his staff has taken a lot of strides to improve the class since arriving.

Florida was a big winner during the early signing period, retaining all of its commits and signing all but one of them. However, the real boost came from who it added on Dec. 15. UF signed three previously uncommitted blue-chip prospects, including a five-star safety in Kamari Wilson and four-star linebacker Shemar James, who was committed to the Gators under the previous staff but backed off his pledge following the team’s struggles down the stretch in 2021.

Though he was considered a Georgia or Alabama lean for a while, Napier and new defensive coordinator Patrick Toney, especially, pushed hard to bring him back into the fold. It wasn’t the staff’s only win over a top program, as Wilson was also a top Georgia target.

Since early signing day, the team has also added four-star running back Trevor Etienne, a Jennings, Louisiana, prospect who is the younger brother of former Clemson star and first-round NFL draft pick Travis Etienne. With these additions, the Gators are up 16 spots to No. 43 in the latest ESPN recruiting rankings, but that still ranks last in the conference.

43. Florida Gators

ESPN 300 commits: 5 | Previous ranking: 59 

SEC rank: 14 of 14
Top offensive commit: RB Trevor Etienne (No. 196)
Top defensive commit: S Kamari Wilson (No. 14)

This a small class, and new head coach Billy Napier has a lot of work to do, but the Gators came out of the early signing period with some positives to build upon. A late visit right before the dead period went a long way in beating Georgia for five-star safety Wilson, an impact-type defender. They were also able to bring one-time Florida commit and ESPN 300 LB Shemar James back into the fold. Etienne is a compact and physical runner who could quickly contribute. Tony Livingston is a high school tight end with a ton of upside as an OT, given time to develop.

With only 11 commits and just five that rank in the ESPN 300, it is certainly a small class at the moment. That means that if the class fills out on national signing day on Feb. 2, it is almost certain to rise quite a bit before it’s all said and done.

However, with the proliferation of the transfer portal, Napier may opt for a smaller transition class to give him more leeway to build the roster with experienced players from the portal in Year 1. Whichever strategy the staff ultimately chooses, it needs to bring more players in the fold for this to be considered even a semi-successful offseason.

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Florida competing with SEC East rival for this 3-star safety

Florida is close to landing another safety and there’s only Tennessee to beat.

It’s now down to Florida and Tennessee for three-star safety Miguel Mitchell.

The Oxford, Alabama prospect announced the final two schools remaining in his recruitment on social media Thursday with national signing day quickly approaching. Mitchell was originally committed to the Vanderbilt Commodores until he backed off that pledge in November.

Billy Napier had previously recruited Mitchell while at Lousiana and he quickly extended an offer to the defensive back after taking over at Florida. At the time, Mitchell said that Florida was at the top of his board and that continues to be the case. The Volunteers have done enough to stay competitive with Florida and Tennessee satisfies Mitchell’s ultimate goal of playing in the SEC.

Both teams will get a chance to host Mitchell before he makes a decision. He’ll be in Florida over the weekend before visiting Tennessee the weekend of January 28. Mitchell also took a trip to see the Volunteers play South Alabama on November 20 following his decommittment from Vanderbilt.

Napier has brought over several members of his former staff from Lousiana and that familiarity has helped Florida in Mitchell’s recruitment. Florida’s reputation for developing defensive backs has also interested Mitchell, according to 247Sports.

“They’ve brought a lot of DBs out of there,” he said. “They have a good, rich football legacy. I know they put a lot of effort into their football program, definitely, so that definitely helps.”

247Sports ranks Mitchell as the No. 65 athlete in the country. Florida’s 2022 recruiting class already has two elite safeties, Kamari Wilson and Devin Moore, but Mitchell is a versatile enough defensive back to fit in. He’ll decide between his top two schools on national signing day.

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Florida WR coach Keary Colbert visits 4-star Texas prospect

Receiver D.J. Allen also plans to take his final official visit to Gainesville sometime in the coming weeks.

Florida currently has no receivers in its 2022 class. It previously had a blue-chip prospect committed in Jayden Gibson, but it couldn’t maintain Gibson’s commitment through the coaching change as the West Orange product eventually signed with Oklahoma, instead. The position has been a priority for the new staff though.

It has been going hard after Texas receiver Caleb Douglas, a three-star who is set to visit Gainesville this weekend. But another prospect the Gators are eying is four-star Gladewater, Texas, receiver D.J. Allen. Florida receivers coach Keary Colbert, who also recruited Allen when he was at USC, went to visit Allen on Friday. Allen discussed his relationship with Colbert with 247Sports.

“He cares about what you do outside of football and he cares about who you are,” Allen said earlier this week. “He is going to push you to be the best you can be. It’s good to have him there since I know him. I don’t know how to really describe it, but I feel like we already know each other good, so that is good. We have a good bond. He’s been telling me much about Florida but we talk on an off. I talk with Coach Napier too and Coach Hamilton too. Coach Napier tells me how he plans on changing the program around and how much I can help. Coach Hamilton is from Texas, so it’s nice having someone from Texas at Florida. I’ve talked to him a little bit, but not a ton.”

The No. 184 player in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite, Allen was once committed to TCU. The 5-foot-11-inch, 190-pound speedster pledged to the Horned Frogs in August but he backed off that decision on Nov. 11. The Gators offered him at the end of December, and they will look to get him on campus.

Allen said that he will visit Gainesville either next weekend or the weekend after. Though he hasn’t decided yet, he said that his trip to Florida will be his last official visit. The Gators will hope to close with him and add a blue-chip pass-catcher to the class.

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Highly-coveted 4-star RB prospect announces Florida visit

The Gators will get a big-time running back prospect on campus later this month.

One of the hottest running back prospects in the 2022 college football recruiting class, four-star TreVonte’ Citizen, has been on the Gators’ radar for quite some time. On Thursday, according to On3’s Corey Bender, the 5-foot-11-inch, 218-pound back announced that he will be making an official visit to the University of Florida on Jan. 22.

Citizen had just recently released his list of top eight schools on his list of preferred destinations, with the Orange and Blue among those mentioned. However, hailing from Lake Charles, Louisiana, it should come as no surprise that the LSU Tigers are considered the front-runner for his commitment, along with the Auburn Tigers, Grambling, Miami, Michigan State, Nebraska, and USC.

Last year, Citizen officially visited LSU, Auburn, Texas and Texas A&M as a high school junior, and gets a second visit to Baton Rouge due to the coaching change. According to 247Sports, Gators assistant head coach and running backs coach Jabbar Juluke — whose hometown is in nearby New Orleans while also having graduated from Southern University in Baton Rouge — has spearheaded the effort to get the bayou boy into the Swamp.

In scouting the high school senior, what stands out the most is his optimal body type for the running back position, possessing proportional dimensions on his nearly 6-foot frame. Despite missing time during his senior season due to a broken finger, Citizen managed to gain an amazing 11.4 yards per carry while notching a touchdown every sixth time he touched the ball on average.

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Florida DC Patrick Toney to visit top Gators target

Jacoby Mathews was originally scheduled to visit Gainesville this weekend, but he pushed his trip back to next weekend.

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The Gators are gearing up for one of the biggest recruiting weekends they’ve had in a while. Ten players are set to visit this weekend, but that number was originally supposed to be 11. On Thursday night, four-star Ponchatoula, Louisiana safety Jacoby Mathews decided to push his visit back to the weekend of Jan. 21.

Instead of Mathews visiting the Swamp, defensive coordinator Patrick Toney traveled to Louisiana to see him on Friday morning, instead. It’s the first day of the contact period after the end of the dead period following early signing day.

Mathews, the No. 36 overall recruit in the country per the 247Sports Composite, has never visited Gainesville, but he’s been a top target for the new staff since they arrived. The one-time LSU commit previously told 247Sports that his relationships with coach Billy Napier, who spent the last four years coaching in Louisiana, and cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond, who initially recruited him to Baton Rouge, make him feel comfortable.

“I love it because, even though they went there (Florida), they still stuck to us,” Mathews said. “They stuck to recruiting us. When Coach Napier left ULL, the day after he hit me up. Coach C-Ray hit me up the day after he left LSU. I just knew they wanted me still and I can trust them too. They just let me know every time we got on the phone that I have a bright chance to start and how they are making beautiful changes so I can come in and ball for the better. I know for a fact I can trust those guys. Both Louisiana guys trying to get me out of Louisiana.”

The Gators are in a good position for Mathews, who plans to announce his decision on national signing day on Feb. 2.

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This 4-star 2023 DL prospect will visit Florida this month

Billy Napier and staff are getting ahead start on next year’s crop this month as well.

The college football recruiting hot stove has been on full blast of late ahead of national signing day on Feb. 2. The Florida Gators under new head coach Billy Napier along with his army of coaches and staffers have been hitting the pavement hard in an effort to restore glory to the gridiron Gators.

While the focus has been primarily on recruits from the 2022 class, as the turnover between coaching regimes caused an already low-ranked crop to drop precipitously in the rankings, Napier is not so myopic that he is ignoring the future. Along with the high school seniors that will be visiting the university’s campus, there will also be members of the 2023 class present as well.

Among the high school juniors who are inked for their visit is On3 four-star defensive lineman Derrick LeBlanc, who announced on Wednesday that he will make his first in-person meeting with the staff on Jan. 23, according to Corey Bender of On3. This is not his first visit to Gainesville, however, as he attended a majority of Florida’s home games this past season after making several trips prior as well.

The 6-foot-5-inch, 250-pound in-state lineman from Kissimmee has several schools in mind so far in addition to Florida. The co-front runner for his services along with the Gators is Ohio State, while Clemson, Miami, Oklahoma, Penn State and UCF all are in the running as well.

Previously, former defensive line coach David Turner led the recruiting effort for Dan Mullen’s staff. Now, Napier, Patrick Toney and Jamar Chaney are all spearheading the effort to get him into an orange and blue uniform in 2023.

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Florida set to host 11 prospects in crucial 2022 recruiting weekend

Here’s a rundown of every 2022 prospect that will be on campus for Florida this weekend.

For the first time in a while, the Gators have a bit of momentum in recruiting. UF’s class was in a bad way when coach Billy Napier took over in December, but he made up for lost time quickly on early signing day, adding three blue-chip prospects to the class, including a five-star safety in Kamari Wilson.

Napier added a fourth on Jan. 8 when Florida picked up the commitment of four-star Louisiana running back Trevor Etienne, the younger brother of former Clemson star Travis. The 2022 class now has 11 committed players, but considering it ranks just 41st nationally and remains the worst class in the SEC, per the 247Sports Composite, there’s still a lot of work to be done.

A lot of that work will be done this weekend, when the Gators will host one of the most talented official visit slates they’ve seen in a while. There will be a number of talented 2023 recruits on campus, but there will also be 11 players from the 2022 class. Some of them are already committed, but UF will be looking to land a commitment from the others. Here’s a full rundown of the official visitors.

Florida tight end target decommits from Cincinnati

Three-star New Iberia (LA) Westgate tight end Danny Lewis decommited from the Bearcats on Wednesday. He has recently been offered by Florida and LSU.

The Gators could now be in the running for a 2022 tight end whose stock is quickly rising. New Iberia (LA) Westgate tight end Danny Lewis had been committed to Cincinnati since Sept. 6, but he reopened his recruitment on Wednesday, announcing his decommitment from the Bearcats on Twitter.

“First off I want to thank the University of Cincinnati for giving me an opportunity,” Lewis said in the tweet. “Thank you guys for recruiting me to the fullest! However, I am choosing to decommit to rethink my decision and open up my recruitment.”

The three-star prospect has seen a late push from some top-tier programs. He was offered by Florida on Dec. 12, and LSU followed suit on Wednesday after his decommitment. Alabama has reportedly also shown interest in the tight end, who ranks as the No. 817 player and No. 46 tight end prospect on the 247Sports Composite.

He’s currently set to take an official visit to Gainesville on Jan. 28. He had originally planned to visit on Jan. 14, and that visit was pushed to Jan. 21 before being changed again. Now, the Gators will get the last word in with Lewis before he announces his commitment on national signing day.

Though he coaches a different position, cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond has played a prominent role in his recruitment, as the former LSU assistant is a native of New Iberia and has strong ties with the staff at Westgate High School. He told 247Sports that his primary recruiters have been running backs coach Jabbar Juluke alongside head coach Billy Napier, but he has also talked to tight ends coach William Peagler.

“I talk to them all the time and really have a good relationship with them,” Lewis said, according to 247Sports. “I know most of them from all the time they spend in my area, and you get a good comfort level being around them. I want to see how they are with their new players and what the atmosphere is like when I get over there.

“Mainly I talk with Coach Juluke and I also talk with Napier almost every day. I talked with Coach Peagler the other day. I just talked to him and met him on the phone for the first time a couple of days ago. He just wants to start building a relationship with me. The coaches are all pretty cool and they are talking to me every day, so that tells me they really want me.”

Lewis also has offers from 22 other schools, including LSU, Indiana, Arizona State, Utah and Memphis.

He would be a nice pickup for the Gators, who don’t currently have a tight end in the 2022 recruiting class. The starter from the 2021 season, Kemore Gamble, announced on Wednesday that he would not be entering the 2022 NFL draft and would instead enter the transfer portal to take advantage of the free year of eligibility granted to all players.

Without Gamble, the team will likely rely on veteran Keon Zipperer as well as rising redshirt sophomore Nick Elksnis and true sophomore Jonathan Odom, neither of which saw significant playing time in 2021. If the Gators can bring in Lewis, it would help their depth at the position heading into next season.

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Four-star WR headed to Florida for final official visit

Florida doesn’t have any receivers in its 2022 recruiting class yet, but the Gators are targeting this four-star out of Texas.

Four-star wide receiver DJ Allen has decided to take his final official visit to the University of Florida, according to 247Sports.

Allen was committed to TCU but he decommitted in November after coaching changes. After Florida went through some coaching changes of its own, Billy Napier and wide receivers coach Keary Colbert reached out to the Texas recruit and made an offer. Colbert’s relationship with Allen goes back to when he was on the USC staff recruiting him.

He’s taken official visits to the aforementioned schools, Arkansas and Baylor so far. There’s no date set for his visit to the Swamp yet, but Allen says it will happen soon.

“I am going to come and take a visit down there, but we are still talking about it,” Allen said. “I don’t have any dates for that yet, but I plan on taking my last official visit to Florida. It’s either going to be this weekend, next weekend, or the weekend after that. It will be sometime in January though.”

While in Gainesville, Allen wants to check out the team’s facilities and the university’s business program. He’s looking for a good blend of academics and athletics for his college experience, and Florida offers just that. Napier’s new scheme could entice him to join as well.

Although he doesn’t have a list of finalists yet, Allen plans on making his decision on National Signing Day. He’s a four-star recruit on all four major services and the No. 184 overall prospect on the 247Sports Composite.

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