Tag: Derrick LeBlanc

4-star defensive lineman looks to make an official visit this summer

Things look to heat up on the recruiting front in June with this 4-star DL planning to make a visit.

Four-star defensive lineman [autotag]John Walker[/autotag] hasn’t made nearly as many trips to Florida as his Osceola teammate [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag], but he wrapped up his second visit to the Swamp on Friday. He told reporters afterward that an official visit schedule is starting to come together. Walker wants to take one to Michigan, Ohio State, USC, Florida and UCF.

During his most recent visit, he spent the most time around head coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and defensive line coach [autotag]Sean Spencer[/autotag]. He relished the ability to build a stronger relationship with Spencer in particular.

The Gators didn’t practice on Friday following the team’s first scrimmage of the spring. However, he met with Spencer and broke down some film from some of the practices this month and last. It gave him some perspective on what Spencer wants from his group.

Walker said Spencer wants his players to be fast, athletic, have excellent get off and be willing to run to the ball on every play. He demands his unit to give 110% on every play.

Spencer really covets him because he needs more guys to control the line of scrimmage. Walker likes him as a coach because of how genuine he is.

He doesn’t have a formal leaderboard at this point in his recruitment but continues to emphasize that the Gators are up there and isn’t sure when he would like to award his pledge to one of his top schools. Walker said it could come any time between the start of his senior season and the early signing period in December.

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This 4-star DL completes his fourth visit to Florida this weekend

Florida priority target and four-star defensive lineman Derrick LeBlanc visited Florida for the fourth time this past weekend.

Four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag] made his fourth trip to Florida and the Swamp this past weekend. After his visit, he told 247Sports that the Gators continue to push all the right buttons in his recruitment.

LeBlanc is a priority target for coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and defensive line coach [autotag]Sean Spencer[/autotag]. The 247Sports composite rankings have him as the 87th overall prospect and as the 11th best player at his position. He hails from Osceola, Florida, and is teammates with fellow four-star defensive lineman [autotag]John Walker[/autotag], who is also a top target for the Gators.

He said he really wanted to spend more time around Spencer this weekend and came away accomplishing that. Spencer showed LeBlanc film from spring practice and started quizzing him on Florida’s defense because he’s been there so many times.

The Gators need more top defensive line prospects after the previous regime struggled mightily with recruiting. LeBlanc feels like he can see the field early if he chose Florida.

He also spoke with current defensive linemen [autotag]Gervon Dexter[/autotag] and [autotag]Brenton Cox[/autotag]. They said they love the new current coaching staff and that if they could stay two more years to play for them, they would.

LeBlanc will visit Miami next weekend and will take an official visit to Penn State during the weekend of June 10. He also wants to take official visits to the Gators, Hurricanes and Oklahoma during June. He also believes that these four schools are recruiting him the hardest.

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Florida football hosting another batch of top prospects this weekend

Florida is set to host one five-star and nine four-star recruits this weekend. Many recruits want to see the Gators in action this spring.

Coach [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and staff have brought a boatload of top recruits to campus the past couple of weekends to check out Florida’s spring practices. The Gators will continue that trend this weekend, bringing in one five-star and nine four-star prospects.

This weekend’s visitors list is headlined by five-star linebacker [autotag]Malik Bryant[/autotag] out of Orlando, Florida. He’s ranked as the 27th overall prospect and as the second-best at his position, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. This will be Bryant’s second trip to the Swamp this year after he made one in January. He plans to make his commitment known to the public on July 23.

Four-star teammates [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag] and [autotag]John Walker[/autotag] will also be in attendance this weekend and plan to stop by UF’s campus on Friday. For LeBlanc, this will be his fourth trip to see Napier and Co. since they’ve taken over at Florida. He will also make his commitment known publicly with Bryant on July 23. Then this will be Walker’s second visit to the Gators in 2022.

The University of Florida is hosting the Florida Relays this weekend, which means many high school football prospects across the state who also run track will be in Gainesville. Napier and his staff are using that to his advantage for four-star wide receiver [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag], who is also considered a legacy recruit for the Gators because his parents both ran track at Florida.

Additionally, five-star running back [autotag]Richard Young[/autotag] is also competing at the Florida Relays and could stop by and see the coaching staff, but 247Sports and On3 haven’t reported on his official plans as of publishing.

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A star studded recruiting weekend has recruits buzzing in favor of the Sooners once again

A major recruiting weekend took place in Norman, Oklahoma headlined by at least five five-star talents from the 2024 class.

March has been an excellent month for the Oklahoma Sooners. They’re making the most of their opportunity to showcase the program to the nation’s best recruits. Players, family members, and coaches are getting an idea of what the Oklahoma Sooners will look and feel like under [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag].

Nearly every weekend this month has been seen elite talent from the 2023 and 2024 classes descend upon Norman to take in everything that the University of Oklahoma has to offer.

This latest iteration may be the best version of it so far as the Sooners had a ridiculous collection of talent across the several recruiting classes including the 2025 cycle. All three classes got to visit while the Sooners put on their first padded practices.

As it stands right now, no new commitments manifested from this weekend’s activities. However, visits from 2023 guys like Derrick LeBlanc and Cayden Green showed that the Sooners are  in the race for their commitments. Both have now unofficially visited Oklahoma multiple times.

Below, we’ve listed the 2023 names that were in Norman this weekend:

Names like Caleb Otlewski, Devin Strange, and Jacobe Fowler won’t be too familiar to those who follow Sooners recruiting as none have offers from the Sooners. However, it’s smart for Oklahoma  to keep casting a wide net.

Kayden McDonald has a close relationship with 2023 commit Jackson Arnold and that could help the Sooners in their pursuit of the talented defensive lineman from Georgia.

On the 2024 side, the Sooners are becoming more and more active as they continue to lay their foundation with the rising juniors of high school football. Here are the names of some of the 2024 prospects in attendance this weekend:

The 2024 class was absolutely the standout group of the weekend if nothing else for the volume and the quality of players that were in attendance.

D.J. Lagway is one of the best quarterbacks in the state of Texas regardless of grade and getting him on campus is a big accomplishment. He already has offers from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, and Florida.

Brown-Shuler, Simmons, Cunningham and Umeozulu represent some insane five-star talent on the defensive line in attendance. All three will be household names by the time their recruiting processes come to an end.

Johnson-Rubell is another five star defensive talent with 21 offers already from some of the elite programs in the country. He plays at IMG Academy which has an incredible amount of talent, and features David Stone, a former Oklahoma prep star who transferred to IMG and a player the Sooners are also heavily recruiting.

All in all, the Sooners are trying to make connections with some of class’s most elite defensive talent in 2024 and this weekend was a perfect time to showcase that.

Lastly, there were a few 2025 prospects in attendance of note:

Knighten and Larry are in-state products and players the Sooners should have in-roads to as they are the in-state favorites. However, both running backs are young and have a significant amount of time before their recruitments gain any heavy movement. But in the case of Oklahoma, it’s never too early to get involved,  especially if Knighten and Larry become national names.

The foundation they build now will go a long way over the next few years.

Now that the weekend has come to an end, the next few days will allow recruits the opportunity to sit and think about the time they spent while in Norman. Some of the early returns and reactions have been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve chronicled those right here.

Expect for the Sooners to keep this level of momentum on the recruiting trail as they push through the spring on their way to their first spring game under Brent Venables. Oklahoma will be welcoming a number of prospects on campus for the April 23 spring game in Norman.

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Best reactions from the latest recruiting weekend with the Oklahoma Sooners

Check out some of the best reactions from the Oklahoma Sooners’ latest recruiting event.

The Oklahoma Sooners hosted another crop of recruits over the weekend including players from the 2023, 2024, and 2025 recruiting cycles. Players and their families took in all that the University of Oklahoma and its football program had to offer on a beautiful spring day.

Joining the Sooners over the weekend was highly-coveted five-star defensive tackle [autotag]David Hicks[/autotag], the No. 1 defensive lineman in the country according to the On3 Consensus. The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine currently has the Sooners ahead of the Texas A&M Aggies by a slight margin. The only Crystal Ball prediction from 247Sports comes from Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong who believes that Hicks will land with the Aggies.

[autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and his crew hosted another highly-touted defensive lineman in the 2023 class in [autotag]Derrick LeBlanc[/autotag] out of Kissimmee, FL. The four-star DL, is the No. 67 player in the 2023 class and the No. 9 defensive lineman. Both On3 and 247Sports believe Florida is the leader to land LeBlanc’s commitment but we’ve seen this coaching staff swoop in and flip players with less time and opportunity.

Oklahoma also hosted a couple of four-star athletes out of the southeast in [autotag]Joseph Stone[/autotag], Jr. and [autotag]Jaylen Mbakwe[/autotag].

With another recruiting visit in the books, let’s look at some of the best reactions from recruits, family, and analysts.

Gators earn a pair of crystal ball predictions for this top 100 DL

The Gators are poised to land this in-state top-100 defensive lineman.

Four-star defensive lineman Derrick LeBlanc will return to Gainesville on Thursday for his second visit of the month to the Swamp, according to 247Sports. LeBlanc’s interest in Florida was very high coming off his March 5 visit, and coming back so quickly has experts convinced that he’ll wind up a Gator eventually.

247Sports’ Steve Wiltfong and On3’s Corey Bender submitted crystal ball predictions to their respective services for LeBlanc in favor of Florida on Wednesday. LeBlanc told Wiltfong that Florida was in the lead and that he “loved them the most” with a July 23 commitment date set.

With over 30 offers on the table, UF’s proximity to Kissimmee plays a large role in LeBlanc’s recruitment. He was able to see most of the team’s home games last fall, and short notice trips like Thursday’s visit are easy to put together.

UCF and Miami are the other in-state schools in the mix. The Knights will host LeBlanc on Saturday as they look to cut into Florida’s apparent lead. Ohio State and Penn State are the two main out-of-state options LeBlanc is considering.

A consensus top-100 recruit, LeBlanc’s recruitment could take a turn at any moment if the right school decides to put him at the top of their board. But the Gators are the team to beat right now, and crystal balls don’t come this early all that often.

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These three top Florida recruiting targets set commitment date

Could Florida earn a clean sweep with its top three targets on July 23?

July 23 will be a make-or-break day for Florida’s 2023 recruiting class because three of its top targets are set to announce their commitments on that Saturday. Five-star linebacker Malik Bryant, four-star offensive lineman Payton Kirkland and four-star Derrick LeBlanc announced Sunday night that they are planning to make their pledges known publicly on July 23.

As of Monday, the Gators and Miami are the only common denominator with each prospect. Kirkland and LeBlanc also just wrapped up their unofficial visit to the Swamp the day prior. However, Bryant hasn’t stepped foot in Gainesville since Jan. 15.

July is obviously a long way away but Swamp247’s Blake Alderman reported that his Florida sources feel good but understand there is a lot of recruiting left to do. He also elected to drop a crystal ball prediction for Kirkland with medium confidence of four because of how much he raved about the Gators following his visit.

247Sports also reported that it’s unclear if all three recruits will select the same school, but it’s a possibility.

The key for coach Billy Napier and Co. is to get all three back on campus a couple more times before their decision date.

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Where do prominent Sooners 2023 targets land in the updated Top247 from 247Sports?

Taking a look at several Sooners targets who saw movement in the updated Top247 Rankings from 247Sports.

With the completion of the 2021 season and 2022 recruiting concluded, aside from a few high-profile names, most recruiting services have moved their focus toward the class of 2023. Recently, On3 Recruiting released their updated On300 rankings to reflect how they view prospects from the class of 2023 as camps, showcases, and 7-on-7’s move to the forefront. The current juniors have one final summer before making that leap to their senior year.

Oklahoma has prospects littered up and down the 247Sports rankings, and many saw moves up the list while a few experienced declines in their rankings, and some held steady at their previous spots. Parker Thune of OUInsider provides a complete look at every Oklahoma target and where they now rank in 247Sports updated Top247.

Here’s a look at 11 Oklahoma targets and how they moved in the 2023 rankings.

Florida’s recruiting staff pushing right buttons for this 4-star defensive lineman

Napier and crew have their eyes on this coveted 4-star defensive lineman in the 2023 class.

Osceola teammates 4-star defensive lineman Derrick LeBlanc and John Walker have sat on top of the new Florida coaching staff’s wish list since they’ve arrived. So far, the new defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Sean Spencer and coach Billy Napier have made a strong impression on both of them.

Swamp247‘s Blake Alderman spoke with LeBlanc over the weekend to get an updated sense of where the Gators stand in his recruitment in particular. He told Alderman that he plans to return to the Swamp on March 5. LeBlanc also mentioned that he has visits set to UCF, Oklahoma and Miami over the next month.

Napier has been the main point of contact for LeBlanc so far to emphasize how much of a priority he is for Florida.

“Really Napier is more of the main guy I talk to at Florida, but I talk to a lot of the coaches at Florida,” he said. Coach Napier is real cool though. He shows me where we stand with how he is personally recruiting me, and I like that a lot. I like him a lot.”

Spencer is another coach who consistently communicates with him. LeBlanc said he’s full of energy and that the two click really well.

LeBlanc has teased that he could commit sooner rather than later but mentioned he may commit after he takes his official visits.

“I am going to take my official visits and then probably commit, well I really can’t say that right now,” he added. “I could commit whenever.”

He said Florida will continue to be a top school for him because of the environment there.

“It’s really different than when (Dan) Mullen and them were there, so I really like it a lot,” LeBlanc said. “It’s really different there now. The new staff really takes the recruiting part hard. They are on you constantly, so that is what I think is so different there.”

Out of the top schools, he’s working with, he said a few of them have started to stand out like Penn State, the Sooners, Hurricanes and Gators.

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These Florida targets among top performers at Under Armour Miami

Here’s a look at how Florida’s 2023 targets fared at Under Armour Miami this past weekend.

Under Armour’s annual football camp series kicked off Sunday in Miami, displaying some of the best athletes South Florida has to offer. Florida had a flurry of top targets in attendance like defensive end Derrick LeBlanc, running back Richard Young and defensive lineman John Walker.

The event had a heavy focus on testing but also included some competition drills. Here is how some of them fared.

Four-star offensive tackle Lucas Simmons earned 247Sports‘ Alpha Dog at the event, given to the prospect who performed the best. He originally hails from Sweeden and has only played the game of football for two years, which makes his performance even more impressive. He starred in individual drills, showing off his light feet, body quickness and the athleticism that coaches seek at the left tackle position.

Offensive lineman Roderick Kearney, wide receiver William Fowles and Young were three Gators targets that were tagged as the best five performing offensive players at the Under Armour event. Kearney played the right tackle and guard spots during 1-on-1 drills and displayed solid agility. Fowles took home the camp’s wideout MVP honors, flashing strong route running and ball skills. Young still made 247Sports’ list despite an up and down day because of his short-area explosiveness and his strong ability to change directions on a dime.

Moving on to defense, LeBlanc, Walker and defensive back Dijon Johnson made the cut. LeBlanc and Walker demonstrated the explosiveness and power off the line of scrimmage most college coaches look for when recruiting players for the front four of their defense. Then Johnson illustrated good natural instincts and ball awareness in 1-on-1s.

Some other players who earned honorable mentions include offensive tackle Payton Kirkland, offensive lineman Bryce Lovett, edge rusher Isaiah Nixon and safety Elliot Washington.

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