Category: Football Recruiting

‘Kadarius Toney’-like 2022 five-star recruiting target to visit Florida in June

This big five-star multi-position Florida football recruiting target has set his dates for an official visit to campus this summer.

Dan Mullen and his Florida Gators football staff are starting to pick up  momentum here in the 2022 recruiting class. Earlier in the week, four-star offensive tackle Tyler Booker announced he had set an official visit to Gainesville to meet with the Gators. Now, a big five-star athlete is set to visit.

Gentry Williams announced on Friday morning he will be on Florida’s campus for an official visit June 4-6:

Williams does a little bit of both, playing quarterback and defensive back for Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He’s a five-star dual-threat bit could change positions at the college level.

When talking to Corey Bender of Rivals, Williams mentioned Florida envisions using him like they did with Kadarius Toney, having him become a weapon for their offense. That’s certainly something Florida fans should love to hear because Toney was an explosive player for the Gators’ offense and should be a first-round pick come April’s NFL draft.

“Most schools really like me on the defensive side, but when talking to Florida, they really do have a plan for me at receiver. They’re really explosive. The position they want me to play Kadarius Toney had a great season at. He’s put himself to be a really high draft pick and they think I can do the same.”

Williams has 18 offers and is getting legit interest from Oklahoma, Florida, USC, Arkansas and LSU. He’s ranked No. 19 overall, the No. 2 athlete nationally and No. 1 in the state of Oklahoma per 247Sports.

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This four-star offensive tackle is set to visit Florida in June

A four-star offensive tackle in the 2022 recruiting class has officially announced his dates for when he will take a visit to Florida.

Things are starting to heat up in terms of the 2022 recruiting cycle for college football, just a few months after the 2021 class wrapped up. With Florida not turning in a top 10 class for the cycle, 2022 now becomes an important one for Dan Mullen and his staff.

On Tuesday, the Gators took a step forward in their pursuit of a big target and top 50 recruit. Four-star offensive tackle Tyler Booker revealed on Twitter that he will visit Florida’s campus June 4-6. This is significant and depends on whether or not the NCAA lifts the current ban on recruiting travel.

According to a report on Monday, the NCAA committee is recommending that the dead period ends in late May. If that’s the case, it would allow a player like Booker to visit campus.

The 6-foot-4-inch 315-pound Booker is ranked No. 43 overall, the No. 4 offensive tackle and the No. 7 player in the state of Florida per the 247Sports recruiting rankings. He has a total of 30 offers including from some big programs such as Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Auburn and Penn State in addition to Florida.

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Is Florida trending for this 2022 tight end recruit? Find out here

The Florida Gators football program received a crystal ball prediction from a top analyst for this 2022 tight end.

Dan Mullen and his Florida Gators football staff were able to add to the tight end position for the 2021 recruiting class, signing two players to help begin replacing Kyle Pitts.

And now the Gators might just be the favorite for another tight end in the 2022 class.

Tampa Bay native C.J. Hawkins is entering his final year at Berkeley Prep and has a total of 29 offers in his recruitment. That includes one from Mullen and the Gators as they have upped their pursuit of the in-state product. But while his recruitment has been a little quiet of late, Florida potentially received some good news.

247 Sports national recruiting analyst Steve Wiltfong recently logged a crystal ball prediction for Florida to land Hawkins. In addition to the prediction, Wiltfong put a confidence of 7 on his pick, another good sign.

Now, this doesn’t guarantee that Hawkins lands with the Gators but Wiltfong is among the best recruiting analysts and landing a pick with this high of confidence is a big positive.

There’s no set date for a commitment from Hawkins but he’s certainly a player that Florida fans should keep an eye on.

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WATCH: Get a glimpse of ’22 Florida target Mario Eugenio at Under Armour Miami camp

Florida football recruiting target Mario Eugenio participated in the Under Armour Miami camp over the weekend and took home MVP honors.

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Dan Mullen continues to build his 2022 recruiting class which included a commitment on Wednesday from a quarterback. But over the weekend, one of his commitments and a top target tried to up their stock at a recruiting event.

Commit Francois Nolton Jr. and target Mario Eugenio competed in the Under Armour High School Camp in Miami. The two defensive ends were among recruits that participated in the event in Miami, showcasing the top high school talent in the area.

Eugenio is a four-star prospect that has a total of 25 offers in his recruitment so far, including one from Florida. While he hasn’t made any big updates in terms of a decision in his recruitment, Eugenio is a prospect the Gators would love to have right here in the state of Florida.

The 6-foot-3-inch, 230-pound Eugenio was one of the top performers in the recruiting camp, and even earned MVP honors for the defensive line:

With a solid performance for the end at this camp, the stock continues to rise for him and so should Florida’s interest moving forward in terms of landing him.

Eugenio is ranked No. 366 overall, No. 19 defensive end and the No. 47 player in the state of Florida per the 247 Sports recruiting rankings.

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Florida Gators make cut for 4-star OT in 2022 class

The Florida Gators football program made the top 8 for this four-star offensive tackle in the 2022 recruiting class announced on Saturday.

Coming off a top 20 recruiting class in 2021, Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators are hoping to turn in a better one in 2022.

Florida currently has two recruits committed in 2022, a class that is ranked No. 32 overall and No. 9 in the SEC. The good news is that there is a lot of time left in this recruiting cycle and plenty of targets still available.

On Saturday, Florida took a step forward in their pursuit of a four-star offensive tackle as Qae’shon Sapp provided a big update to his recruitment moving forward. Sapp released his top 8 on Saturday, trimming down his list from a total of 26 offers:

Joining Florida on that list is Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Arkansas, Cincinnati, USC, and Florida State. That’s a list of big programs, so Florida will have their work cut out for them.

The four-star offensive tackle is ranked No. 349 overall, No. 41 offensive tackle and the No. 33 player in the state of Georgia per the The 247 Sports recruiting rankings. 

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Florida Gators land two players on All-Decommit list for 20201

SI released its “All-Decommit” list for offense, spotlighting the top players who were committed before flipping, including two Gators.

Recruiting can be a wild ride for players, families and teams in college athletics as there is sometimes an added pressure for those to make their final decision and pick a school. Sometimes players “flip” to other teams due to multiple circumstances which can make recruitment very interesting.

It’s never really over until a recruit signs that letter of intent, and then coaches can finally take a deep breath and stop stressing. Throughout each recruiting cycle there are always flips as a player commits to a program and then changes his mind, eventually signing with another program. Yeah, those hurt the fanbase but if it’s in the best interest of the recruit, then we certainly cannot be mad.

With college football in its offseason and the 2021 class all wrapped up, John Garcia Jr. of Sports Illustrated released his “All-Decommit” list for offense, spotlighting the top players who were committed to one program before flipping. Among his list are two Florida Gators:

Elksnis was named honorable mention at tight end as he was originally committed to Penn State before flipping to Florida. He’s one of two tight ends that signed in the 2021 class and will make that position stronger.

As for Barber, he was committed to Minnesota for a while but after the Gators made a strong push, he ended up changing his mind. In the end, he stayed in-state and the Gators are certainly happy he did.

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Florida among top recruiting teams in nation over five-year span

The Florida Gators football program is near the top in terms of recruiting over a five-year span per CBS Sports, a good sign for the future.

When looking at some of the more successful college football teams over the past five years or so, theres no secret as to why they are having success: recruiting.

Recruiting is obviously a big factor in teams having that success and putting themselves in contention for the College Football Playoff. The premiere programs such as Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State dominate in recruiting, finishing near the top every single year.

But what if I told you that over the past 5 years, the Florida Gators were among the top teams in terms of recruiting?

CBS Sports released an article this week breaking down the top teams in terms of recruiting from the 247 Sports rankings. Here’s how they did it:

These ratings are not a pure reflection of the talent on the roster. Our partners at 247Sports offer the Team Talent Composite each August, which takes transfers, NFL Draft exits and other attrition into consideration to produce a talent score based on the prospects on each roster heading into the upcoming season. This analysis focuses exclusively on the player acquisition portion of program building, using five years of data from the 247Sports Composite Rankings to identify some trends on the recruiting trail.

The result? Well, Georgia took the top spot with an average of 2 followed by Alabama (2.4) and Ohio State (5) in the Top 3. You won’t have to look far to find the Gators, however as they check in at No. 8. Let’s take a look at the rankings over the past 5 years for Florida which averaged out at 10.4:

  • 2017 – 10
  • 2018 – 14
  • 2019 – 9
  • 2020 – 8
  • 2021 – 13

While this year’s class isn’t in the Top 10, it’s still a solid class and the Gators are on the right track. That’s all that matters as they look to get back in contention for a College Football Playoff spot next year.

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Florida among top recruiting teams in nation over five-year span

The Florida Gators football program is near the top in terms of recruiting over a five-year span per CBS Sports, a good sign for the future.

When looking at some of the more successful college football teams over the past five years or so, theres no secret as to why they are having success: recruiting.

Recruiting is obviously a big factor in teams having that success and putting themselves in contention for the College Football Playoff. The premiere programs such as Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State dominate in recruiting, finishing near the top every single year.

But what if I told you that over the past 5 years, the Florida Gators were among the top teams in terms of recruiting?

CBS Sports released an article this week breaking down the top teams in terms of recruiting from the 247 Sports rankings. Here’s how they did it:

These ratings are not a pure reflection of the talent on the roster. Our partners at 247Sports offer the Team Talent Composite each August, which takes transfers, NFL Draft exits and other attrition into consideration to produce a talent score based on the prospects on each roster heading into the upcoming season. This analysis focuses exclusively on the player acquisition portion of program building, using five years of data from the 247Sports Composite Rankings to identify some trends on the recruiting trail.

The result? Well, Georgia took the top spot with an average of 2 followed by Alabama (2.4) and Ohio State (5) in the Top 3. You won’t have to look far to find the Gators, however as they check in at No. 8. Let’s take a look at the rankings over the past 5 years for Florida which averaged out at 10.4:

  • 2017 – 10
  • 2018 – 14
  • 2019 – 9
  • 2020 – 8
  • 2021 – 13

While this year’s class isn’t in the Top 10, it’s still a solid class and the Gators are on the right track. That’s all that matters as they look to get back in contention for a College Football Playoff spot next year.

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Florida Gators earn recruiting praise from ESPN at this position

ESPN had some praise for the Florida Gators football recruiting class, specifically at one position for the 2021 cycle.

While the Florida Gators’ football program barely cracked the top 10 for the 2021 recruiting cycle, they are still earning some praise just a week after national signing day wrapped up.

ESPN recently broke down the 2021 class now that it’s all signed and spotlighted which teams recruited the best at each offensive position for the class. The usual suspects such USC, Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, Clemson and Oregon were mentioned at key positions but Florida wasn’t shut out from the praise.

Dan Mullen’s squad was listed as one of the teams that recruited the best at the tight end position, landing two ESPN 300 players at tight end by signing Gage Wilcox and Nick Elksnis.

Here is what staff writer Tom VanHaaren had to say about the Gators haul at tight end:

This post isn’t including transfers, but it would be difficult not to at least note that Florida is bringing in former five-star tight end
Arik Gilbert, who transferred from LSU. That is significant, but didn’t factor in to listing the Gators here.
The staff has two ESPN 300 tight ends in the class, and after the success of Kyle Pitts  this past season, there should be no shortage of top tight ends flocking to Florida in the future. Wilcox is the No. 256 ranked recruit and Elksnis is No. 284.

Following Kyle Pitts’ big season a year ago, the position has a bright future and we could be looking at breakout seasons down the line for Wilcox and Elksnis. Having that big year for Pitts helps in more than one way as it’s now had an impact on recruiting at the position.

Gilbert should make an impact right away in the offense while Wilcox and Elksnis could be the future of the position for Mullen’s offense.  It’s safe to say that the Gators are in good shape at a key position in this offense for a few years to come.

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Florida football banking on the transfer portal for recruiting

The Gators landed a pair of former five-star recruits in Demarkcus Bowman and Arik Gilbert, two of the latest transfer portal additions.

Despite three-straight New Year’s Six appearances for Florida coach Dan Mullen, the recruiting continues to lag behind the other elite teams in the country (and even the conference). According to ESPN’s final 2021 recruiting rankings, UF cracked the top 10 with a No. 10 ranking (a bit higher than its No. 13 rank on the 247Sports Composite), but the Gators still missed on several key players on national signing day.

Florida landed a consensus five-star recruit for the second class in a row in Miami cornerback Jason Marshall and a talented quarterback in four-star Georgia prospect Carlos Del Rio, but perhaps its biggest additions this offseason didn’t have to sign a National Letter of Intent.

UF has been active on the transfer portal this offseason, landing a pair of former five-star recruits in Clemson running back Demarkcus Bowman (a Lakeland native) and LSU tight end Arik Gilbert, both of whom entered the transfer portal during the 2020 season.

In an analysis of the winners and losers from national signing day, Florida got a shoutout from ESPN as one of a handful of teams in a third category, “teams that used the transfer portal to their advantage.”

Florida also used this to its advantage and added some big-name players from the 2020 class in former five-star tight end Arik Gilbert, who transferred from LSU, and running back Demarkcus Bowman from Clemson.

The Gators’ use of the transfer portal certainly had an impact on its recruiting, as it limited scholarships available for the rest of the class. In addition to Gilbert and Bowman, UF added defensive tackles Daquan Newkirk from Auburn and Antonio Shelton from Penn State, as well as Mississippi State kicker Jace Christmann.

The transfer market may not be as optimal as signing a strong class of incoming freshmen, but Mullen is managing it well to fill roster needs with immediate impact players.

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