Florida Gators 2013 Recruiting Class

[Escambia94]

It looks like Will Muschamp and crew are going for in-home visits to Nkemdiche and WR James Clark. I did not realize Clark was still on the radar. This goes to show that as big as my list is, the coach's list is bigger and is well guarded.

Also be careful of disinformation this time of year. Fans are blasting recruits based on bad information. WR Marqui Hawkins become annoyed on Twitter that there were rumors of him flipping to Auburn or visiting Auburn. He reassured through Twitter that he is all Gator.

Wait and see...

 

[DRU2012]

My comment above was NOT a comment on YOUR (extensive and much-appreciated) research, E-, but more an effort to console those (myself most emphatically included) who have a tendency to get a bit too wrapped up in all of this: The GOOD news here is that there is (what I'd consider) an overall positive trend in this Coach & staff to recognize and take into account whether or not a prospective recruit is a "good fit" here at UF, mainly in determining the presence or absence of those character traits that reflect a strong sense of responsibility, drive, loyalty and a sense of "team"--and, as we get down towards the end of this long process, are more and more dispensing with the "me-me-me"-guys and focussing on the ones who can, will and are starting to get excited about the idea of "doing things the Florida Way", as Muschamp has put it.
Btw: as you may of heard (and is an encouraging and interesting move in terms of our specific situation at QB, where we currently HAVE no experienced back-up now that Brisset has left), after making quiet and discrete inquiries, and research that has included some in-home discussion with the young man and his family, our staff is making a late run at juco quarterback Tanner McCoy. A highly-rated QB out of New Jersey a couple of years back, South Carolina went full-bore to get him--then in late-spring decided they wanted him to play WR, given their preference for a more drop-back style attack, and by then having the guys it figured would get this done for them...McCoy transferred to Arizona Western where he has done quite well the last 2 years; He's a dual-threat guy whose style would fit nicely stepping in to replace Driskel mid-game, mid-season if that were necessary due to injury, etc. We're not the only bigtime program interested, but we appear to have the inside track.

 

[Escambia94]

National Signing Day TV Announcements
The following ESPN 300 recruits are scheduled to announce their college decisions on ESPNU on national signing day, which is Feb. 6. All times are Eastern.

Time Player ESPN 300 Rank
7:35 a.m. DE Robert Nkemdiche No. 1 (Ole Miss, Florida, or LSU)
9:10 a.m. DE Carl Lawson No. 2
9:15 a.m. OLB Matthew Thomas No. 6
9:20 a.m. OT Denver Kirkland No. 144
9:35 a.m. OT Laremy Tunsil No. 5
9:45 a.m. DT Montravius Adams No. 13
10:05 a.m. S Vonn Bell No. 50
10:20 a.m. WR Jordan Cunningham No. 107
10:45 a.m. S Antonio Conner No. 24
11:05 a.m. WR Stacy Coley No. 47
11:15 a.m. CB Mackensie Alexander No. 4
12 p.m. DT Dee Liner No. 26
12:15 OLB Quinton Powell No. 99 (Florida or USCw)
12:30 p.m. QB Asiantii Woulard No. 143
1:30 p.m. DT Keith Bryant No. 135
2 p.m. OLB Jermaine Grace No. 138
3:35 p.m. RB Alvin Kamara No. 32
4:05 p.m. OG Tyrone Crowder No. 125

 

[Escambia94]

Go ahead and scratch off OLB Quinton Powell. The Gators will not be faxing a letter of intent to Quinton. Coach Muschamp asked him to make a decision before NSD, presumably so they could focus on other key recruits. Quinton wanted to make the decision on NSD, but it looks as if his indecision has forced a decision to USC. Florida is already loaded at LB, so now Florida can focus on a backup QB (Tanner McEvoy is on OV today), a CB (Jalen Ramsey would be my guess), DT (Jay-nard Bostwick is more likely than Jarran Reed) and one more WR (James Clark).

In related news, James Clark is heavily leaning towards Florida based on pictures he took with his dad in the Gator locker room, wearing a Gator uniform. My guess is that he is a Gator.

 

[DRU2012]

Comin' down to it...

 

[Escambia94]

Scratch off Montravious Adams. He has narrowed his hat selection to four, and is not including Florida.

 

[Escambia94]

DT Jarran Reed just de-committed from Ole Miss today. Word on the street is that he was 50/50 Ole Miss or Florida before that. I am starting to like Florida's chances to land him.

I foresee DT Jarran Reed and WR James Clark signing with Florida on Wednesday with high confidence. I like Florida's chances with DT Jay-nard Bostwick and CB Jalen Ramsey as well.

 

[DRU2012]

I would really like to see us add a piece or two on offense here at the end--especially at WR and/or on the O-line.

 

[Escambia94]

I think this weekend secured WR James Clark. No known OL were on campus. DE Davarez Bryant is the only dark horse that emerged. DT Jarran Reed is a high possibility, as is DT Jay-nard Bostwick. I doubt we get both DTs.

Tonight starts dead period. No more calls until Wednesday.

Florida has 60 scholarships available, meaning they can sign 25 players to hit the 85 scholarship limit, not counting the 8 early enrollees. That means at most Florida can sign 25+8 = 33 players on Wednesday. Will Muschamp will likely sign less than that in order to save room for the 2014 EEs that he already knows are coming.

The 8 EEs are already in class, so we need to figure how many of the 17 verbals stay. Usually there is one defection out, plus a couple defections in. There is always one academic issue. I just found out that my predicted dark horse is having grade issues. That being said, I see the Gators pulling in 24 of the 25 listed in the first post, plus getting WR James Clark and DT Jay-Nard Bostwick. DT Jarran Reed may not like seeing Bostwick recruited and may go to Bama or another high profile SEC school. With CB Jalen Ramsey being silent all this time, it is anybody's guess.

Edit 2/1: Ramsey just committed to FSU.
Edit 2/6: Clark committed to tOSU, Bostwick committed to Florida.

 

[Escambia94]

Scratch off Tanner McEvoy. He is headed to Wisconsin.

 

[Escambia94]

WR Ryan Timmons is going to Kentucky. CB Jalen Ramsey is going to FSU.

 

[Escambia94]

So far the verbal commitments have been steady with the Gators. There were rumors of DE Antonio Riles getting annoyed at Florida and flipping to UGA, but he sent in his LOI to Coach Muschamp.

Robert Nkemdiche picked Ole Miss over Florida and LSU, as expected.

 

[Escambia94]

NLIs are in and validated for Alvin Bailey, Cameron Dillard, Ahmad Fulwood, Adam Lane, Antonio Riles, Jordan Sherit and Nick Washington

 

[Escambia94]

Add in Jarrad Davis, Marqui Hawkins, Octavious Jackson, and Chris Thompson.

Add Caleb Brantley (no relation) and Rod Johnson.

 

[Escambia94]

• DE Tashawn Bower committed to Auburn over Florida, contrary to reports from the experts.
• WR James Clark committed to tOSU over Florida in somewhat of a disappointment, but not a surprise. At tOSU he has an easy path to a starting role. At Florida, all of a sudden there is a lot of competition at receiver, which is good for the Gators.

 

[Escambia94]

The Gator NSD is basically done as of 11:00 Eastern. All 17 verbals sent in their LOIs, and the Gators gained 1. The only disappointment may be WR James Clark going with tOSU, but it was going to be hard for any star receiver to commit to a class that already had five receivers.

 

[Escambia94]

I almost forgot about DT Jarran Reed. Florida grabbed some serious defensive linemen from the jaws of Nick Saban.

 

[Escambia94]

The last two players Muschamp is going after are JUCO TE/DE/ATH Trevon Young and kicker Danny Krysalka.

 

[DRU2012]

We're in great shape, overall--"not quite" on a couple of the "last minute surprises" our people were focusing on AND looked "Close!" to grabbing, but we didn't LOSE any either, and those were all ones we REALLY wanted all along, so we are FINE. (I'm not gonna say a WORD about what happened with Clark, and how Meyer went after him, but with the muttering going on over at "Gator Central", gotta feeling this'll come out somewhere else eventually...)
Now, as a cautionary-tale as to the modern pitfalls in ignoring dire warnings, of coveting talent to the point of NOT taking character and personality into account, there is the whole sad tale of this kid Boyd (formerly, it would seem) at Kanas State...With a day to go before NSD, he was indicted on 5 counts of armed robbery-with-violence, punishable at a minimum of 10 yrs. per count, and held on $150,000 bail. KSU doesn't appear to even want to be associated with the kid now, not even including him on their "board" or in their "prospective"-list today...However, they could have been a lot worse off had this not come out for another few days and they'd already pulled-the-trigger on this one--as they almost certainly WOULD have, having gone after him so hard (he WAS going to be their "prized recruit", the gem at the top of their class, after fighting off a BUNCH of other schools who LIKEWISE chose to ignore prior warnings--including his arrest back in October not just for pot-possession, but more ominously an accompanying "resisting-arrest" charge that led to his being tazed, so violently out-of-control was his reaction at the time) and seemingly having "won out" over competing programs. Aren't y'all glad OUR Coach doesn't even consider these kinds of kids? Something TO this idea of going after "young men who can and will do things The Florida Way".

 

[DRU2012]

(PS--as E- notes, in the 2 cases he mentions PLUS at least one more, there's a good chance that we will pick up between 1 and 3 MORE before this is all over in the next few weeks--but there'll likely be some creative "back-dating" going on regarding class and scholarships still, and the overall numbers as to where we're at scholarship-wise will come out about the same as it is now regardless.)