Nothing is ever certain in college football. Five-star quarterbacks can disappoint and loaded recruiting classes can be blown up by academic disqualification or disciplinary issues. Even the best recruiting cycles on paper can be a letdown.
This was the case for UF’s 2010 recruiting class.
The 2010 class was disappointing across the board. ESPN ranked its group of five stars as the weakest over the last ten years. Of its 12 five stars, eight were drafted, but many of them had disappointing college careers due to off the field issues or injuries.
UF recruited four five-star recruits in that class, including the No. 1 prospect in Ronald Powell. They also landed Dominique Easley, Matt Elam and Jonathan Dowling. All four were drafted, though perhaps only Elam, who was selected in the first round after his UF career, lived up to expectations. Easley and Powell both showed moments of greatness, but injuries limited them significantly. Dowling spent one season at UF before transferring to Western Kentucky, eventually getting drafted in the seventh round.
The Gators had the nation’s top recruiting class in 2010, but a series of factors such as coaching changes and bad injury luck kept it from manifesting on the field, and the class preceded one of the most frustrating periods in modern program history.
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