Tag: Marcus Stokes

Florida football cracks SI’s top 10 recruiting classes as 2023 cycle wanes

As the 2023 recruiting cycle begins to narrow, the Gators are looking pretty good in SI’s rankings.

The start of December means that college football recruiting is back on the front page after the end of the no-contact period and with the upcoming early signing period just weeks away. Now that the regular season schedule is complete it is time to start wrapping up the 2023 cycle and taking a look at the next step forward.

So far this year, the Florida Gators have fared well on the recruiting front under the leadership of [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag], who was brought in to fix up a program that had neglected its duties when it comes to luring the top preps prospects to Gainesville. The new regime has done admirably well in its first year, earning a spot in the top-10 rankings of most major publications’ recruiting rankings — including Sports Illustrated, which recently released its latest update to open the month.

According to sportswriter John Garcia Jr., the Orange and Blue land right at No. 10 – up one spot from the last update — with 22 total commitments, of which four are SI99 recruits. Here is what he had to say about the current state of affairs in Gainesville.

Another SEC program preparing for a splash finish, Florida got the ball rolling with one of the biggest flips of the recruiting cycle in prying [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag] away from Miami. The elite QB was trending to the program before selecting the Hurricanes in the summer and it never waned on courting the Californian, who has now become a vocal part of the commitment class. There was more news at the quarterback position in Gainesville, as the program moved on from longtime commitment and in-state talent [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] after a video of him using a racial slur was posted on social media. He has since apologized for using the language while “listening to rap music.”

The Gators are also ranked No. 8 by ESPN as well as 247Sports, while On3 has Florida one spot higher at No. 7. The early signing period officially begins on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

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Florida football pulls scholarship offer from QB commit Marcus Stokes

Four-star quarterback Marcus Stokes is no longer headed to the University of Florida after his scholarship offer was pulled.

Four-star quarterback [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] had his scholarship offer from the University of Florida withdrawn on Sunday.

A video surfaced over the weekend of Stokes using a racial slur while singing along with a song, and Florida made the decision to rescind its offer to him after being made aware of the video.

Stokes took to Twitter to apologize and comment on the video.

“I was in my car listening to rap music, rapping along to the words and posted a video of it on social media,” Stokes wrote. “I deeply apologize for the words in the song that I chose to say. It was hurtful and offensive to many people, and I regret that.”

Stokes has accepted Flordia’s decision to back off on the offer and will have to look elsewhere to continue his football career. At one point, he was committed to Penn State University, but Florida flipped him after missing out on [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag].

Of course, Florida ended up flipping Rashada from Miami, so there’s no panic to fill the quarterback slot in the class of 2023 following this development.

Stokes threw for 1,127 yards, seven touchdowns and eight interceptions in seven games for Nease (Ponte Vedra, Florida) last season. His best year in high school came as a junior when he recorded 2,672 yards, 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions over a full season.

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Gators flip 4-star QB Jaden Rashada from Miami

The Gators shocked the world overnight and got their quarterback. Jaden Rashada has flipped his commitment from the University of Miami to the University of Florida.

In a surprise turn of events, four-star quarterback [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag] flipped his commitment from the University of Miami to the University of Florida.

Rashada committed to the Hurricanes back in June, and it was the start of a string of wins for UM that made Florida fans anxious. The Gators have since put together a top-10 class, and flipping Rashada moves them up to No. 8 on both 247Sports and On3’s team rankings for the class of 2023.

Team booster Hugh Hathcock teased a big announcement on Wednesday, and Rashada’s Thursday night/Friday morning announcement did not disappoint. Although it hasn’t been explicitly stated that Rashada got a nice NIL package, the puzzle pieces are there to put together. Hathcock is the biggest donor the football program has and Rashada posted a video of him in Hathcock’s Lamborghini to make the announcement.

Rashada’s commitment makes him the highest-rated recruit in the class of 2023 and there’s room for early playing time. If [autotag]Anthony Richardson[/autotag] departs for the NFL, which many believe he will, Rashada could compete for the starting job as a true freshman with Ohio State transfer [autotag]Jack Miller III[/autotag].

Miller was the clear No. 2 to Richardson coming into the season, but his thumb injury has propelled [autotag]Jalen Kitna[/autotag] into the backup role this year. There’s also freshman [autotag]Max Brown[/autotag] to consider and incoming quarterback [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] in that race. Rashada has the right tools to make it happen, but it wouldn’t be too crazy to see him spend a year in a backup role.

The 247Sports composite ranks Rashada No. 57 overall in the class of 2023 and No. 7 among quarterbacks in the class. The On3 composite agrees with that opinion, placing him at No. 61 nationally and in the same spot among players at his position.

Rashada is now the highest-ranked recruit on Florida’s lit of verbal commitments, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see more of Miami’s commits jump ship. The Hurricanes still have commitments from the top cornerback in the class [autotag]Cormani McClain[/autotag] and the top offensive tackle in the class, [autotag]Francis Mauigoa[/autotag]. If Florida was pushing on Rashada, they are probably pushing on those two still as well.

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Tracking which recruits attend Florida’s Week 7 matchup with LSU

There will be a ton of recruits visiting the Swamp this weekend to see Florida face LSU.

The Florida Gators are set to host the LSU Tigers over the weekend for a major SEC matchup, but those aren’t the only visitors that Billy Napier and Company need to worry about this week. The recruiting team is set to host dozens of elite prospects from three different classes on Saturday (2023, 2024 and 2025).

Keeping track of all those prospects can get confusing, but we’ve got you covered. Below is every confirmed visitor, both official and unofficial, for the weekend. Some big names, such as five-star cornerback [autotag]Cormani McClain[/autotag], are still up in the air right now, but Gators Wire will update this list throughout the weekend and include the newest additions at the top.

Florida’s coming off a pair of commitments on Thursday from cornerback [autotag]Dijon Johnson[/autotag] and safety [autotag]Bryce Thornton[/autotag], which brings the class of 2023 to 22 total commitments. There’s still room to add a player or two, though, and the Gators are rolling out the red carpet this week.

Florida commits in action during Week 2 of high school football

Take a look at how Florida’s top recruits fared this past week on the high school gridiron.

Week one of college football was plenty exciting, but there was still high school football action as well, and Florida’s commits put up some highlights.

Two players were on a bye, four-star receiver [autotag]Eugene Wilson III[/autotag] and four-star defensive lineman [autotag]Will Norman[/autotag]. The latter has had an interesting high school journey that took another turn over the weekend.

A good chunk of the class was in attendance for Florida’s upset win over the Utah Utes on Saturday as well. Seeing the Swamp over capacity and experiencing Billy Napier’s first game day as the head coach of the Gators sat well with them.

Here’s a look at what Florida’s recruiting class of 2023 did over the weekend.

Highlights from Florida commits over first full weekend high school action

High school football is in full swing and the Florida Gators’ commits are putting up highlight after highlight.

High school football is in full swing across the country and that means there are highlights to watch from Florida’s commitments in the class of 2023.

While everyone was in action, high school clips are tougher to find than college football clips or NFL action. A good chunk of the class has some sort of media available, though, so that’s what we’re looking at here today.

Four-star running back [autotag]Treyaun Webb[/autotag] had the best week with 191 yards on 18 carries in a 48-40 win on Friday. Four-star receiver [autotag]Eugene Wilson III[/autotag] also shined with six catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns.

[autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] left his game early with an apparent knee injury in the first quarter and didn’t return, but Gator Country’s Nick Marcinko noted that he appeared to be okay watching from the sidelines.

Florida’s quarterback commit, [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag], had a rough day, completing just five of 20 pass attempts for 76 yards and an interception. He did manage to score a rushing touchdown to make up for the turnover, though.

[autotag]Creed Whittemore[/autotag], who is listed as an athlete, was 10-14 for 126 yards and a touchdown Thursday. He added 71 yards on the ground and a pair of scores on a field that was ruined by the weather.

Three-star wide receiver [autotag]Tyree Patterson[/autotag] had a nice 100-yard game with a touchdown despite a team loss Friday.

Here’s where Florida ranks in SI’s 2023 recruiting rankings debut

Here’s where Sports Illustrated thinks the Gators ranks in the 2023 recruiting war.

Florida football is quickly rising on the recruiting front after a fantastic finish to the month of July that saw the Gators shoot up the rankings thanks to a handful of blue-chip commitments. The recent surge has not unnoticed by the sports media, as scouts and other evaluators have offered much more bullish assessments of UF’s 2023 recruiting class than in months prior.

One of the biggest names in sports journalism over the years is Sports Illustrated, which has brought athletics to life for generations of fans. The storied publication debuted its 2023 recruiting class rankings on Tuesday, in which Florida landed at No. 13 following its huge weekend.

Verbal Commitments: 16

Premium Position Pledges: 7

The Gators capped July on a tear on the trail, particularly within state lines, snagging four skill position commitments over the weekend including speedy wide receiver [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] and former Miami commitment [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag]. Almost quietly, UF has built a very strong secondary and wide receiver class that could grow in strength sometime soon. Throw in a flip of high upside quarterback [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] from Penn State, and July went about as well as any [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] follower could have hoped.

Florida’s new head coach had his work cut out for him, and so far, he has done an admirable job with what he has to work with. Many underestimate the mess left behind by the previous staff, and with the added pressure of having Mario Cristobal — who is no slouch himself — to compete with in one of the hottest recruiting grounds in the country, the former Ragin’ Cajun has held his own, albeit still with some headroom for improvement.

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Florida QB commit Marcus Stokes put in some recruiting work over the weekend

The Gators received some recruiting help from their quarterback in the class of 2023 over the weekend, and it seems to have paid off nicely.

Florida football pulled in a nice group of commitments over the weekend, and quarterback commit [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] may have helped get a few of the names on campus, according to Gators Online.

Stokes was expected to miss the Friday Night Lights even coming into the weekend, but he ended up making enough room in his schedule to stop by and get some throws in with Billy Napier right beside him. When Gators Online caught up with him Friday, he said that he was also in town to do some recruiting.

“I was recruiting [autotag]Dijon Johnson[/autotag],” Stokes said. “I was on him the most because that would be a big pickup for us.”

Johnson backed off his commitment to Ohio State shortly after visiting Florida.

Stokes also spoke with four-star receiver [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag], who ended up moving up his commitment and joining UF’s class of 2023. The young quarterback likes to know his receivers and also talked with Florida commit [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] to make sure both ended up at the same place. Stokes transferred from Penn State knowing Mizell would be his guy.

Treyaun Webb has also been a powerful voice on the recruiting trail, but it’s always good to see the incoming class take an interest in bringing in more talent. Now all that’s left to do is for Johnson to complete the flip.

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Social media reactions to Florida’s big recruiting haul

It all happened kind of fast, but Florida just hit a major recruiting hot streak to close out the summer. Here’s how Gator Nation reacted.

The Florida Gators just added four more recruits to the class of 2023 and Gator Nation is sounding off on social media.

The first few months of the summer were tough on Florida fans. Billy Napier and his staff missed out on several top targets before hitting their stride. Losing the likes of four-star quarterback [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag] and five-star offensive tackle [autotag]Francis Mauigoa[/autotag] to Miami made the slow start even more painful.

Then, four-star running back Treyaun Webb committed and four-star quarterback [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] flipped from Penn State. But Napier and the Gators were just getting started. Most of July is considered a dead period in college football, which means players can’t get on campus or meet with coaches in person during the back half of their summer break. The final week of the month is a quiet period, though, and Napier made the most of it.

Landing a quartet of four-stars in the final days before recruits are shut down again until the start of the college season is exactly the boost Florida (and its fans) needed. Cornerback [autotag]Ja’Keem Jackson[/autotag], safety [autotag]Jordan Castell[/autotag] and receivers [autotag]Andy Jean[/autotag] and [autotag]Aidan Mizell[/autotag] pledged their services to the Gators and vaulted UF into the 12th spot on 247Sports’ team rankings.

It’s safe to say that Gator Nation is celebrating this hot streak and here’s how they’re doing it.

WATCH: Gators QB commit Marcus Stokes air it out at Friday Night Lights

Marcus Stokes isn’t officially a Gator yet but the 2023 commit looks pretty good making plays in the Swamp. Check out what he did at Friday Night Lights.

Several commits were in town for Florida’s Friday Night Lights camp this weekend, and recently flipped quarterback [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag] had a chance to show off his arm.

Stokes served as the quarterback for some of the 1-on-1 drills being run by camp attendees. He connected with five-star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who’s ranked No. 11 on the 247Sports composite for 2024, for a big play and the video quickly made the rounds on social media.

The Gators flipped Stokes on July 7 from Penn State, and it’s easy to see why Billy Napier wanted him so badly. The rising senior launched a ball from the logo around the 50-yard line into the end zone, hitting Smith in stride.

All Gators‘ Zach Goodall had a great view of the pass and shared it on Twitter on Saturday.

Here’s another look at it from a sideline perspective, courtesy of 247Sports’ Andrew Ivins.

There was a point when it seemed Florida might have to pass on a quarterback in the 2023 class. Then, Napier flipped Stokes and he has  impressed since, both on the field and on the recruiting trail. His senior year will be one to monitor, but it’s good to see him making big plays in the Swamp already.

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