Tag: Florida Gators Football

Three-star EDGE will make official visit to Gainesville next weekend

The Florida Gators football staff is expecting a widely scouted 3-star EDGE to make an official visit to campus next weekend

The Florida Gators have been hard at work to get the best players out of the 2025 recruiting cycle, and they’re not looking to hit the brakes anytime soon with Spring practices right around the corner.

The Gators coaching staff coordinated with three-star edge rusher [autotag]Tylon Lee[/autotag] to set up an official visit next weekend, with Lee planning to tour the campus on March 9.

Florida linebackers coach Mike Peterson and Lee have been in close contact recently, according to reports from Swamp247. The bond is something that the Milton, Florida native appreciates about the UF football program.

“It’s been awesome,” Lee said. “Getting the connection and the vibe. That is the type of coach I love. One that makes you feel like you can be at home. As you go somewhere for college, you leave your real parents. The coaches are there to step up and be like parents kind of. They get you to work on and off the field, but it’s their responsibility to do good and treat you good.”

“I love how he talks to his players and build relationships with all of them. He tells them the good and the bad. We are clicking with the bond and he even talks to me about the good stuff and the bad stuff. Life has adversity, so I feel like the bond he has with me can help me when that comes around.”

Landing a commitment from Lee will be a huge boost to Florida’s recruiting class, with the Pace High edge rusher ranking at No. 32 for his position and is rated No. 461 on the 247Sports composite scale.

Neighboring Florida on Lee’s recruiting list are Penn State, Duke and Florida State.

New win projections for every SEC team for the 2024 college football season

SEC win projections for the 2024 College Football Season.

2024 will mark a new era of the ever-evolving landscape of college football. The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns make the move to the SEC and face new challenges.

Though if you hear former Texas tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders talk about it, the SEC won’t be much of a challenge.

After a 2023 season that didn’t see an SEC team in the national championship game, there might be something to it. Georgia didn’t make the playoff and lost to an Alabama team that wasn’t necessarily the best of the Nick Saban era.

At the same time, the Georgia Bulldogs have earned the right to be the favorites in 2024. However, if you look at ESPN data analyst Jake Wimberly’s latest win projections for the inaugural season of the new-look 16-team conference, the Dawgs aren’t the favorite. It’s one of the newcomers.

Here’s a look at the projected win totals for the SEC in 2024.

SEC quarterback rankings ahead of 2024 spring football

Where does Jackson Arnold rank among SEC quarterbacks heading into spring ball?

As the SEC expands to 16 teams in 2024, the conference is stacked at the quarterback position. From former five-star prospects to 2024 Heisman contenders to intriguing transfer additions, there will be some fantastic quarterback play on display this fall in the SEC.

Seven of the last nine Heisman winners have come from Oklahoma and the SEC. Two of those seven were non-quarterbacks, DeVonta Smith and Derrick Henry.

Much of what will determine which teams emerge as SEC title and College Football Playoff contenders will be on the shoulders of the quarterbacks who will lead their team in 2024.

There are some quarterback competitions that need to take place, but here’s our pre-spring ball SEC quarterback rankings.

 

Four-star offensive lineman sets up spring visit with Florida

The Florida Gators are on the 2025 recruiting trail and have coordinated an official visit with a 4-star offensive lineman

The Florida football staff have been in contact with a highly scouted offensive lineman from the 2025 recruiting cycle and the two parties have set up an official visit for this Spring.

Four-star recruit [autotag]Ziyare Addison[/autotag] has visited Gainesville, Florida a few times, and has told reporters at Swamp247 that he wishes to make another trip on April 13.

Addison took notice of Florida being more aggressive toward recruiting him and the rest of the 2025 class now that signing day for the current cycle has come and gone.

“Since they finished up the 2024 class, and really started to put more on the class of 2025, they really have been recruiting and getting after me,” Addison said. “I sat down and talked with (head coach Billy) Napier for a while when he was by my school. I am building a great relationship with him, and have kept taking to him and (offensive line coach Darnell) Stapleton. It’s a really good deal now that everyone has turned over to our class.”

According to the young offensive lineman, the Florida coaching staff has taken akin to Addison’s versatility as a multi-sport athlete.

“They are being real on how athletic I am and how versatile I am,” Addison said. “They know I am a guy that can play any spot on the o-line. They love that I am a multi-sport athlete. They love I run track and do the 200-meter. There are not many big guys like me doing that. I also wrestle as well, so they love that about me. I stand out to them for being an athlete, and always tell me how they need more athletic people on their team.”

Addison has been in talks with several top programs around the NCAA, and plans on making his rounds to other school campuses starting in March. He’ll be making visits to the likes of Florida State, Penn State, Oregon, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma during their spring practice sessions.

The Riverview, Florida, native is a 4-star offensive lineman in the 2025 recruiting class. Addison is ranked as the No. 275 prospect according to the 247Sports composite scale and is rated as the No. 26 outside tackle in the nation.

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How do the Oklahoma Sooners compare to SEC teams in ESPN’s SP+ rating?

The Oklahoma Sooners are heading into a new era in the SEC and come in at No. 8 in the preseason SP+ rankings.

The Oklahoma Sooners had a really good season in 2023 as they bounced back from their 6-7 season in 2022 to win 10 games last year. Now, they prepare for a new era of Oklahoma football with the move to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

But they aren’t the only change coming to college football in 2024. The landscape as a whole has changed. The [autotag]Pac 12[/autotag] is essentially no more as everyone but Washington State and Oregon State left for the [autotag]Big 10[/autotag] or the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag].

With the new changes and the 2024 recruiting cycle coming to a close, it’s time to look at where Oklahoma ranks in ESPN data analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+ preseason rankings (subscription required).

For those that don’t know, Connelly releases a preseason SP+ ranking every February where he bases his projections on three primary factors weighted by their predictiveness. Those would be returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history.

So, let’s take a look at how Oklahoma stacks up against the rest of the SEC.

Oklahoma Sooners in the top 5 of Josh Pate’s SEC Power Ratings

The Oklahoma Sooners are considered a top five program in the SEC according to Josh Pate.

The Oklahoma Sooners are heading into a new era of college football. Now, there are two mega conferences in college football with the additions the [autotag]SEC[/autotag] and Big 10 are making in 2024.

The Sooners elected to join the SEC, which sort of started this new wave of conference realignment. Much has been made about whether Oklahoma is “SEC ready”? Even after a 10-3 season, that question still looms over the program.

The program is heading in the right direction. They may not be ready to compete for an SEC championship in 2024, but you can tell with how they are recruiting, especially on the defensive side of the ball, they have a vision of what it’ll take to make this team ready for the week in, week out grind of the SEC.

While Oklahoma will be competitive in their inaugural season in 2024, 2025 is the year they’ll be serious title contenders. They’re still a young team and by 2025 a lot of this young talent will be seasoned.

But what about next season? How well can the Sooners do in Year 1? CBSSports’ and the Late Kick Show’s Josh Pate shared his SEC Power Ratings heading into the 2024 season Sunday night. In it, he values a rolling three-year snapshot of on-field performance, talent acquisition, and stability resource pool. Given all of that, he feels the Sooners are the fifth-best SEC program heading into 2024.

That means Oklahoma is probably around an 8-4 or 9-3 team in 2024, which is what I would have them at. And with the 12-team playoff incoming, there’s a possibility that puts them in the College Football Playoff in 2024.

I do think the LSU Tigers are a little overvalued because last year they were so bad defensively and were carried by their offense. Well, gone is Heisman winner Jayden Daniels and their star receiver Malik Nabors. Both are first round picks in 2024.

Here’s a look at how the SEC stacks up, according to Josh Pate.

Reacting to Yahoo Sports’ SEC football stadium rankings

Yahoo was very judicious with its choice of who to leave out. Two teams hail from the SEC East and two from the West.

Yahoo Sports recently ranked all the Southeastern Conference football stadiums from one to 10, excluding the bottom four.

The rankings were chosen based on the SEC as presently constructed, so apologies to fans of the University of Texas and the University of Oklahoma, you all will have to wait until August to be included.

Yahoo was very judicious with its choice of who to leave out. Two teams hail from the SEC East and two from the West. Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt were left on the outside looking in.

Therefore, if you’re a fan of Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium, Kroger Field, Davis Wade Stadium or FirstBank Stadium, you likely have an axe to grind with Yahoo Sports, not us. For what it’s worth though, they weren’t necessarily wrong.

In descending order, let’s find out where Texas A&M‘s Kyle Field in Aggieland ranks among the best conference in college football.

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Way too early 2024 SEC Football Power Rankings

The Sooners and Longhorns are making the jump to the SEC in 2024, so where do they land in our way-too-early power rankings?

In 2024, college football will look like nothing we’ve ever seen. Conference realignment did plastic surgery to the game we’ve grown up with.

The Pac-12 is essentially gone as Oregon, USC, Washington, and UCLA move to the Big Ten. The Big 12 added Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah. Stanford and Cal are off to the ACC, along with SMU getting a promotion from the AAC. The SEC is adding Texas and Oklahoma.

The College Football Playoff is expanding to 12 teams, coming off its most competitive four-team version.

All of this is happening in 2024.

It’s a new era of college football. For the SEC, the Sooners and Longhorns are coming off of double-digit win seasons and Texas made the playoff. But how do they stack up against their future SEC counterparts?

Here’s a look at our way-too-early SEC power rankings.

Breaking: Former Florida LB Scooby Williams will transfer to Texas A&M

Texas A&M lands Former Florida Linebacker Scooby William through the transfer portal

Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko is on fire in the transfer portal and is hitting on some major positions of need. Back to the defensive side of the ball, they grab a productive linebacker to help replace the loss of Edgerrin Cooper and Chris Russell Jr.

Joining fellow former Florida cornerback Jaydon Hill, Elko has now secured a commitment from linebacker Scooby Williams, who is coming off of his 2023 sophomore season after totaling 52 tackles (27 solo tackles), two forced fumbles, and a sack on the year. In three seasons with the Gators, Williams has totaled 69 tackles while bringing his 6’3″, 230-pound frame that could at least put a bandage over Cooper’s lost production next season.

Texas A&M is already in the Top Ten in the 247 Sports transfer rankings, with more to come in the next few days as Elko keeps pounding the pavement in the transfer portal.

Williams is reunited with his 2023 linebackers coach and current Aggies defensive coordinator Jay Bateman and will join incoming sophomore LB Taurean York, who is coming off a stellar freshman campaign.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1.

Here are the ten CFB programs that have produced multiple 1st round QB selections since the 2010 NFL Draft

Texas A&M is one of ten CFB programs since the 2010 NFL Draft with multiple 1st round quarterback selections.

Over the last decade-plus, the quarterback position has continued to evolve with the game itself, and while having a live arm paired with accuracy and touch remain the traits needed to succeed in the NFL, the ability to make plays “out of structure,” while possessing at least moderate duel-threat running ability has become even more vital.

While many of us can pinpoint the Power 5 college football programs that consistently produce quarterback talent, the ever-growing transfer portal has completely thrown off any past trends outside of Oklahoma and now USC under head coach and “QB guru” Lincoln Riley.

Credit to College Football Report for narrowing down the list of the ten programs that have produced multiple 1st Round NFL Selections since the 2010 NFL Draft, which happens to include Texas A&M and, yes, North Dakota State during their incredible run, winning nine FCS National Championships from 2011-2021.

Including several Heisman Trophy winners and potential future NFL Hall of Fame inductees, the ten college football programs have had multiple first-round picks since the 2010 NFL Draft.