Tag: Bobby Engstler

Florida loses commitment from PWO punter, Cal completes flip

Florida thought it had an elite punter coming in as a preferred walk-on, but a scholarship offer from Cal convinced him to flip his commitment.

Florida secured a commitment from punter [autotag]Bobby Engstler[/autotag] in December, but the Gators only offered him as a preferred walk-on. On Tuesday, Engstler announced his decision to flip to Cal-Berkeley after being offered a full scholarship from the Golden Bears.

Engstler was only committed to the Orange and Blue for 40 days. At the time of his commitment, fans praised Florida’s staff for making an effort to improve the special teams unit.

The Gators still have Jeremy Crawshaw to punt in 2024, though. Crawshaw finished the 2023 season ranked 12th in the country among punters by Pro Football Focus with an 80.4 rating. Unfortunately, he’s only got one more year of eligibility remaining. Engstler was his natural successor.

Walk-on punters Ara Emerzian and Jacob Watkins are on Florida’s 2023 roster, but both were listed as seniors. If they don’t return, kicker Trey Smack is the only other leg left to turn should something happen to Crawshaw.

Smack beat out Adam Mihalek for the starting placekicker job early in the season. Mihalek has since entered the transfer portal.

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Four Florida signees to play in Under Armour All-America Game

Four Florida signees will participate in the Under Armour All-America Game on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024 at 4 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Four future Florida Gators will take the field together on Jan. 3 at the Under Armour All-American Game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

Five-star quarterback [autotag]DJ Lagway[/autotag], four-star linebackers [autotag]Aaron Chiles[/autotag] and [autotag]Myles Graham[/autotag] and preferred walk-on punter [autotag]Bobby Engstler[/autotag] are all on Team Fire, according to the organizer’s website. They’ll go up against Team Ice next weekend, with kickoff scheduled for 4 p.m. ET. It will be nationally televised on ESPN.

All eyes in Gainesville will be locked on Lagway. Gator Nation has been waiting for a generational quarterback to walk through the doors since Tim Tebow left, and Lagway is the team’s first five-star quarterback to sign since Jeff Driskel in 2011.

He crushed the high school competition in Texas, totaling more than 5,500 yards and nearly 75 touchdowns with his arm and legs, but now the competition level is getting kicked up a notch. This game has the potential to be Lagway’s national coming-out party if all goes well.

Chiles and Graham will be worth checking in on too. Florida could use some stability at linebacker over the next few years, and these two were signed to fill that void. It’s harder to evaluate defensive players in real-time, but the tape will be valuable.

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Florida football gets commitment from heralded 2024 punter

The Gators got a commitment from a well-regarded kicking prospect on Thursday.

Florida football got some good news on the recruiting front on Thursday as the early signing period quickly approaches.

Punter [autotag]Bobby Engstler[/autotag] out of Tallahassee (Florida) Lawton Chiles in the 2024 cycle announced on Twitter his commitment to the Gators. The 6-foot, 200-pound special teams player was also pursued by his hometown Florida State Seminoles, as well as the South Carolina Gamecocks, Florida Atlantic Owls and Ole Miss Rebels, among others.

His high school accolades include winning the punt competition at the Underclassman Challenge in January of 2023 and National Scholarship Camp in July, according to Kohl’s Professional Camps.

“Engstler is the most consistent punter in the 2024 class,” his listing notes. “He also showed command of his body on field goals at both events… His hands have developed nicely in punting and he continued to be dominant as a punter,” it added.

“Earlier in the year, he graded out at the five-star level by scoring an impressive 118 points at the Southern Showcase Camp… His punting is excellent, and he is one of the top overall combo prospects in the country for the 2024 class.”

Engstler is not rated or ranked by any of the major scouting organizations.

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