Category: Football

5-star CB could give Florida an edge on in-state recruiting

Florida and coach Billy Napier need to land five-star CB Cormani McClain if it wants to take back the Sunshine State.

Alabama and Georgia have grabbed whoever they want from the state of Florida for nearly the past decade. That’s why the Gators went out and nabbed Billy Napier — to try to slow down that trend.

During his first couple of months, he has mentioned the importance of locking down the Sunshine State. One prospect located in that area in Lakeland, Florida, is Lake Gibson five-star cornerback Cormani McClain. He will put Napier’s plan to the test since Florida will have to fend off the Bulldogs, Crimson Tide and other top programs around the country for the elite recruit.

McClain currently sits as the overall No. 4 ranked prospect and as the top player in the state regardless of position in 247Sports independent rankings. The defensive back has also picked off 19 passes in his last two seasons and will likely become a franchise corner in the NFL after getting some seasoning in college, hence why the battle for his pledge is so crucial to Florida.

Napier wants to lock down the state and has mentioned drawing a circle with a 4.5-hour radius around Gainesville that his staff will prioritize. Ideally, most of their recruiting classes should hail from that region that extends south just short of Miami and north just shy of Atlanta as well as reaching as far west as Pensacola.

Florida, Napier and cornerbacks coach Corey Raymond have done a nice job prioritizing McClain so far. He’s scheduled a multi-day visit to the Gators during the weekend of March 19. He also won’t be the only five-star cornerback in attendance because Tony Mitchell and AJ Harris will be there as well.

Napier also has an ace up his sleeve in this recruitment because Lake Gibson head coach Keith Barfield spent the 2020 season as an analyst with Lousiana-Lafayette, though Barfield told 247Sports that he just wants McClain to go wherever is best for him. However, it certainly doesn’t hurt the Gators that they have a prior relationship and that Barfield has a Napier bobblehead on his desk.

Regardless, Napier and Florida need to start signing talented players like McClain if they want to take back the Sunshine State and eventually compete for a national championship again.

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Here’s where LSU’s Brian Kelly stands among The Athletic’s top 25 coaches

Kelly earned the No. 5 spot on Bruce Feldman’s list.

LSU athletics director Scott Woodward shocked the college football world in November when he managed to hire Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame. Kelly had been the head coach in South Bend since 2010, and over his career, he’s the third-winningest active head coach in the FBS behind Alabama’s Nick Saban and North Carolina’s Mack Brown.

The Tigers fired a coach just two years removed from a national championship in Ed Orgeron, and the expectations for Kelly will be clear up front: This fanbase wants another title.

There’s certainly reason to believe Kelly, who took the Fighting Irish to a BCS national championship and two College Football Playoffs, can get the job done with the added resources that come from coaching in the SEC.

Heading into the season, The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman listed Kelly as the No. 5 coach in college football, two spots down from where he was entering last season. He’s behind Saban, Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Ohio State’s Ryan Day.

The only thing missing from his 92-39 tenure at Notre Dame: Winning a national title. There were some blowout losses in big games, but he did a superb job in South Bend — as he has done at every stop he’s been. Now, the 60-year-old moves to the SEC, where it’s national title or bust.

“National title or bust” is a good way to describe this move for LSU. The Tigers’ last three coaches have all won titles, though one of them bolted for the NFL while the next two were dismissed after things began to go downhill.

Kelly likely hopes to finish his career in Baton Rouge, and he’ll try to capture that elusive first championship in the process.

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Welcome to the college wires network, Cornhuskers Wire!

What if instead of USC @trojanswire, Nebraska was Notre Dame’s biggest football rival?

We’re happy to pass along the news that there are a handful of new college wire sites and we’ll start the welcoming parade for those with a team that used to be an annual rival of Notre Dame’s…Nebraska.

Cornhuskers Wire has recently launched and will be the place to stop for any Nebraska fans in your life as Evan Bredeson and his team will compile Nebraska news, information, and thoughts going forward.  Be sure to check them out now and going forward.

Notre Dame and Nebraska’s rivalry in college football is far from deep but is certainly at least worth mentioning, however.  Before USC emerged as Notre Dame’s biggest football rival, the Irish played Nebraska annually from 1915-1925 with each team going 5-5-1 in those 11 games.

Legend has it that USC sent their athletic director and his wife to the Notre Dame game at Nebraska on Thanksgiving in 1925 with the intent on talking Knute Rockne into scheduling an annual game with the Trojans.  Although that’s widely been accepted as gospel, Rockne had already been in talks about adding an annual west coast game, which is the reason behind Notre Dame’s  bizarre Rose Bowl appearance on New Year’s Day 1925.

The legend goes that USC athletic director Gwynn Wilson and his wife attended that game in Lincoln, Nebraska, tried to talk Rockne into an annual game with USC, but that Rockne declined until his wife talked him into it a few weeks later.  The truth is most likely that those talks were much further along than what we’re led to believe in regards to the wives tale.

Next:  What if?

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247Sports thinks transfer Jayden Daniels will win LSU’s starting QB job

Daniels’ path to the starting job won’t be easy, but he has the most experience in LSU’s quarterback room.

LSU already had one of the most interesting quarterback battles in college football, and on Sunday, the race for the starting job saw a new candidate enter the field.

Arizona State transfer Jayden Daniels announced his commitment to the Tigers, adding a player with three years of starting Power Five experience to the group vying for the top spot. It certainly won’t be a cakewalk if Daniels wants to be this team’s starter, though.

He will be competing super senior Myles Brennan, who missed nearly all of the prior two seasons with injuries, promising redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier and an uber-talented five-star true freshman in Walker Howard.

However, in spite of the stiff competition, 247Sports’ Brad Crawford thinks Daniels will ultimately be the player to get the nod in Week 1 against Florida State in New Orleans. Here’s what he said about the quarterback competition.

The SEC’s newest quarterback acquisition, Daniels is coming to Baton Rouge from Arizona State, where he was a three-year starter and difference-maker for Herm Edwards and the Sun Devils. He gives the Tigers big-play potential under center and strengthens the quarterback room considerably ahead of Brian Kelly’s first season at the program. Logic tells you LSU likely would not have taken a signal caller two weeks prior to the start of camp unless the Tigers felt the need for another player in the competition. Brennan has starting experience, but has been often injured during his career and Nussmeier appeared in four games as a freshman in 2021.

As Crawford mentions, wanting another starting experience given Brennan’s injury history makes a lot of sense, and Daniels’ dual-threat skillset provides some nice balance for a quarterback room mostly comprised of pocket passers. That’s not to say Daniels can’t sling it, though.

His best season was his true freshman campaign in 2019, when he finished with an impressive 17 touchdowns to two interceptions on a career-high 8.7 yards per attempt. The Sun Devils only played four games in 2020 due to COVID-19, but Daniels was efficient once again with five touchdowns and one interception.

That efficiency took a dive in 2021 as he threw 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, though he did finish with a career-high 65.4% completion percentage and had his best season on the ground with 710 yards and six touchdowns.

He brings a lot of experience to the table, and he’ll certainly have his chance to win the starting spot when he arrives on campus for spring practice.

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Report: Florida football offers 4-star IMG Academy LB during visit

Another IMG Academy recruit has picked up an offer from the Florida Gators while on a visit to the Swamp.

Billy Napier has made a point of targeting in-state talent early in the 2023 recruiting cycle. IMG Academy linebacker Jordan Hall is the latest Sunshine State recruit to receive an offer from the Orange and Blue, according to 247Sports.

Florida has shown interest in Hall for a few months now, but Napier wasn’t ready to extend an offer until the two spent some time together in person. Hall saw five other players from his high school receive offers from Florida before him, and he’s been waiting on this one for a while.

“I got the offer from Coach Napier,” Hall said. “They were just stressing to me how they were going to keep watching my film and break things down before they offer anyone. This was one of the last schools I had been waiting on to hear from before I make my decision. It felt good getting an offer from them and knowing where we stand with my recruiting.”

It’s always a good sign when a recruit is waiting for your program to offer, but Florida will have some fierce competition for the 6-foot-2-inch, 225-pounder. Hall’s length at linebacker makes him a hot commodity, and the likes of Georgia, Florida State, Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State among others are hot on his trail.

He’ll be at Alabama on Friday and is hoping to stop by Auburn in the middle of March. Miami, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and South Carolina are also on his list of schools to visit. In other words, Hall’s recruitment is far from over.

While he’s not ready to put out a list of his top schools just yet, Hall holds UF in high regard. There is somewhat of a timeline on his recruitment as Hall hopes to have a decision ready by the start of his senior year. If he can’t make up his mind by then, things could get pushed closer to one of the signing days.

Hall is ranked No. 159 overall and No. 11 at his position on the 247Sports composite.

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Sam Ehlinger likely to get an opportunity with Colts following Carson Wentz trade

Wentz has been traded to Washington and the Colts don’t have a first round pick in the 2022 NFL draft at the moment…

It’s been a wild few days across the NFL. Continue reading “Sam Ehlinger likely to get an opportunity with Colts following Carson Wentz trade”

NFL reunion in the works for this former Tiger?

Could a reunion be in the works for this former Clemson standout and his old NFL team? On Wednesday, former Tiger defensive end Shaq Lawson tweeted out a short video of him in a Buffalo Bills uniform. After Bills safety Jordan Poyer responded to …

Could a reunion be in the works for this former Clemson standout and his old NFL team?

On Wednesday, former Tiger defensive end Shaq Lawson tweeted out a short video of him in a Buffalo Bills uniform.

After Bills safety Jordan Poyer responded to Lawson’s tweet with eight eyeball emojis, Lawson made it crystal clear what the point of his tweet was.

“I am trying come back home. I miss y’all boys it been long two years,” Lawson tweeted.

Shortly after the exchange between Lawson and Poyer, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported on Twitter that he has been told “there’s mutual interest in Shaq Lawson returning to Buffalo but nothing is imminent on a deal.”

A first-round pick out of Clemson by the Bills in 2016 (19th overall), Lawson spent four seasons (2016-19) in Buffalo before signing with the Miami Dolphins as a free agent prior to the 2020 season.

The Houston Texans acquired Lawson from the Dolphins last March in exchange for inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney, then Lawson was traded for a second time in 2021 when he was acquired by the New York Jets from the Texans on Aug. 30 in exchange for a sixth-round pick.

The Jets released Lawson in January. He played in 14 games for the Jets this past season, tallying 23 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, one interception and two passes defended.

Lawson has 163 tackles, 34 TFLs and 21.5 sacks in 78 career NFL games (31 starts).

–Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images 

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Kayvon Thibodeaux plummets in Todd McShay’s latest 2022 NFL mock draft

Kayvon Thibodeaux apparently didn’t impress enough at the NFL combine to keep his standing near the top of the draft, according to ESPN’s Todd McShay.

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His numbers at the NFL combine last week were respectable. He was among the fastest at his position in the 40-yard dash, and he led all edge defenders in the bench press with an impressive 27 reps of 225 pounds. He answered questions about his goals and aspirations and addressed the concerns about his work ethic and competitive drive on the field.

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Despite all of those things, Oregon’s defensive star Kayvon Thibodeaux continues to drop down the NFL draft board.

That’s according to ESPN’s Todd McShay, of course, who has Thibodeaux dropping out of the top-5 in his latest 2022 NFL mock draft, and nearly falling out of the top-10. After the excitement from Tuesday’s NFL trade between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, McShay has Thibodeaux staying in the Pacific Northwest, going to join Pete Carroll a few hours up the interstate from Eugene. Here’s what McShay had to say:

Well, the rebuild is officially on in Seattle after Tuesday’s agreement to send Russell Wilson to Denver. And because the Seahawks are left with Drew Lock — who was part of the return — as their current quarterback, you have to think they will take a very close look at this draft class’ signal-callers. Do they start over with Pitt’s Kenny Pickett? Do they draft Liberty’s Malik Willis and bet on his upside? Both options are possible at No. 9, but I think Seattle looks to free agency for a short-term complement to Lock and focuses in on Alabama’s Bryce Young or Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud in the 2023 draft.

Part of that reasoning is this year’s weaker QB class. The other part is the fact that Thibodeaux is still on the board. He has 4.58 speed, the ability to walk blockers back and a great arsenal of pass-rush moves at his disposal. I’ve mentioned that I still want to see a little more fire out of him on a down-to-down basis, and that’s still true. But there’s no doubt he has the talent to be a difference-maker on an NFL defense. And Seattle’s unit could use that: Its 34 sacks tied for No. 22 last season, while its 38.7% pass rush win rate ranked No. 20. Thibodeaux, who had seven sacks and 46 pressures last season, gets a new era of Seahawks football rolling.

Many Oregon fans will remember, of course, that it is McShay who was openly curious about Thibodeaux’s work ethic earlier in the year and admitted that he didn’t see him as a top-5 pick in the draft.

As we continue to plow towards the draft, we will see what more teams think of Oregon’s star, and we should get a better feel for his abilities at Oregon’s Pro Day later this spring as well.

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This coveted 4-star EDGE sets visit date with Florida

The Gators get a first visit from this coveted 2023 DL mid-late in March.

Among the many prep prospects who will be hosted this month by Florida football’s recruiting team is four-star defensive lineman AJ Hoffler. The 6-foot-5-inch, 245-pounder out of Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, announced recently that he plans on visiting Gainesville on March 19 to get acclimated with the campus and the new staff.

Hoffler received an offer from head coach Billy Napier himself back in late February, though outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson has been spearheading the effort to woo the young EDGE defender. According to Swamp247, he had some encouraging words about his impression of Peterson.

“He’s pretty cool, but we have only been able to talk for a couple of minutes. I think I may have talked to him once before when he was at South Carolina. But overall he seems pretty cool. I plan on getting down there in March or April. Coach Napier sounded different than the way he looks when I talked to him on the phone. He sounds older than I thought he was. He was pretty straightforward and to the point.”

Florida is not the only school on Hoffler’s itinerary, as he visited the Clemson Tigers last weekend and is slated to visit the Ohio State Buckeyes this month as well. The latter is the only school with a “warm” interest so far, according to 247Sports, but he does currently carry 49 total offers including a handful of fellow SEC programs who have extended their interest.

Hoffler currently ranks No. 199 overall in the nation in the 2023 recruiting class, while ranking No. 31 nationally at his position and No. 21 overall in the state of Georgia, according to 247Sports.

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Georgia football offers 4-star Florida DB

Class of 2023 defensive back recruit Daniel Harris has great length and is rated as a four-star recruit.

Class of 2023 defensive back recruit Daniel Harris has great length and is rated as a four-star recruit. Harris has now received a scholarship offer from the University of Georgia.

The four-star cornerback plays high school football for Gulliver Prep in Miami, Florida. He has offers from top college football programs like Texas A&M, Florida, Penn State, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, and more.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pound defensive back is rated as the No. 344 recruit in the class of 2023. Harris is the No. 33 cornerback in the cycle. Harris’ brother, Donell Harris, plays for the Texas A&M Aggies.

Daniel Harris has good speed and runs track for his high school. As a defensive back, Harris does a good job of reading the quarterback. He pins receivers to the sideline and uses his size well in coverage. Harris is a willing run defender, but will have to be more conservative in his tackling methods at the college level.

The Gulliver Prep star announced his offer from Georgia via his Twitter account:

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