Florida’s early signing period brought plenty of surprises, and the experts at ESPN say the Gators are among the teams “who missed out” on Wednesday.
“While the Gators did hold on to five-star quarterback D.J. Lagway, who was being targeted by Texas A&M, Florida lost nine recruits throughout the entire process, including ESPN 300 safety Xavier Filsaime,” ESPN staff writer Tom VanHaaren wrote.
“Florida also lost five-star defensive lineman Jamonta Waller and four-star DE Amaris Williams, who both flipped to Auburn. … This is still a good haul for Florida, but it could’ve been a lot better, and the signing day process doesn’t instill a lot of confidence given how many recruits almost flipped, or considered flipping, near the end.”
Harsh, but VanHaaren sums up Florida’s early signing period slump about as good anyone. Gator Nation expected a top-five class to be signed, but it came away with a top-15 class instead. That’s not too shabby for most Power Five clubs, but there are at least eight other SEC teams that pulled in higher-ranked classes.
Locking up quarterback DJ Lagway and defensive lineman LJ McCray was huge for Billy Napier and Co., though. Lagway is the kind of generational player who can lead a team back to national relevance, and losing McCray would have been devastating to an already depleted defensive class.
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