Defensive Back = 6

4 star CJ Henderson – a super fast athlete and dangerous return man, Chris Henderson is still learning the CB position after having played RB and WR earlier in his career.  He has all the tools and the athleticism to be outstanding.

3/4 star Brian Edwards – is a player in the Quincy Wilson mold ie taller and not blazingly fast but possessing good coverage skills.  He wants to play corner and will be given every chance to do that.  If that does not work then safety would be another option.

4 star Marco Wilson – is not like his brother Quincy.  Marco is smaller but also faster.  A knee injury wiped out his junior season but he made a full recovery and had a good senior season.  He was heavily recruited by numerous programs.  His SPARQ tests were very good.

4 star Brad Stewart – thought by many to be a natural free safety, he was recruited as a cornerback and did play there.  He is fluid and has good coverage skills.  He was offered by over 20 programs and is a highly regarded prospect.

3 star Shawn Davis – he was offered by fsu, miami, Bama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Tennessee, Ohio State and Southern Cal….but he’s “only” a 3 star according to the recruiting services…which is a joke.  He’ll start out at Corner.  Many suspect he’ll end up at Safety.  This guy can play.

3 star Donovan Stiner – not blazingly fast he is nevertheless a pretty physical guy who played close to the line of scrimmage frequently.  He is a safety all the way and will be looking at a redshirt year to develop.

5 of the 6 can play cornerback and will be given the chance there.  Stewart, Davis and Edwards are also potential safeties.  Stiner is a bit of a development project.  There are no truly elite prospects but a slew of them were highly recruited players who had a lot of options from among other major programs had they chosen to go elsewhere. The quality of this unit lies in the depth of talent rather than in one or two outstanding stars.  This was a huge area of need for the Gators.  In the previous two classes we had only signed one prospect who was rated 4 star or higher.  Despite missing out on stud Safty Devon Hunter and stud Cornerback Shaun Wade, we still hauled in a lot of talent on this unit.  Grade A-.

Linebacker = 4

2 star Lacedrick Brunson – Randy Shannon thought him worthwhile.  That lone sentence is probably a pretty good calling card given how well other lightly regarded LB prospects we have taken in the last two years have panned out.

3 star Nicholas Smith – played with his hand in the dirt for most of his career.  He started dropping back more this past season and really excelled.  Several teams noticed and he did get offers from several 2^nd tier programs (NC State, Michgian State, etc).  His dad played in the NFL from what I heard and Shannon likes his athleticism.  Being a late bloomer kept his ranking down to a 3 star.We’ll see whose judgment is correct here.

3 star Ventrell Miller – being only 6’0” is the only thing keeping his ranking down.  He is a tackling machine and was heavily recruited by numerous major programs. 

3 star James Houston – athletic prior to blowing out his knee and missing a significant part of his senior season.  He looks to make a full recovery.  He was offered by some 2^nd tier type programs (eg Wisconsin among others) but chose to sign with the Gators.

There are no headliners or stars.  Obviously the guy we really wanted was stud OLB Levi Jones.  On paper this looks like a very average haul.  What we can feel good about is that our last two classes at linebacker were also very average on paper.  They didn’t play average last year as freshmen.  I can only give this an average grade judging by how heavily recruited these guys general were and how highly rated they were….yet I don’t’ feel bad about it given Shannon’s track record for finding good ones.  Grade C

Defensive Line = 4

4 star DE Zach Carter – Rivals ranked him in the 120’s as an overall prospect.  Both of the participants of last year’s national title game would have taken him in a heartbeat along with many many other major programs.  Coaching staffs seemed to disagree with the recruiting services over him.  He was a very highly recruited stud.  He will be a strongside DE or will grow into a DT.  He’s good size already at 6’3’ and 240.

4 star DT Elijah Conliffe – another fairly highly recruited guy, he has good explosiveness for a 300 pounder and I’m optimistic about him.  He says he likes to play noseguard but he has good explosiveness on film and I think he sticks as a 3 technique guy.

4 star Tederall Slaton – he’s 360 so he does need to shed some pounds.  That said, he is not some immobile blob even at that weight.  This guy can really move….for example he plays basketball and averages in the double digits.  He was rated as the #1 OG in the country but also played DT and much preferred that position so he will be given every opportunity there at UF.  He’s obviously a noseguard and I could easily imagine him being quite effective at 330 or 340.  Coaches coveted him with the only real concern being his test score.  It looks like he will make that though.

3 or 4 star Kyree Campbell – was a pretty highly regarded guy who signed with UNC last year but couldn’t make his grades and had to go to prep school.  He’s a noseguard type at 320 and 6’5.  Being an early enrollee means he can go through spring and will have a leg up on the competition for reps next season.  Like Conliffe, he is another Virginia product originally.

One more would have been nice.  Obviously the one we most wanted was Labryan Ray whom we missed on yet this is still a very solid haul at a position of great need.  This was a nice recovery after not having any Defensive Tackles just two months ago AND the state of Florida being thin at quality DTs AND it being a thin year for quality DTs nationwide.  There is no mega stud 5 star but there are a bunch of good looking prospects here who will play right away.  Its not as deep as the DB haul but the talent level of the ones we got is similar. Grade B+

Offensive Line = 2

4 star OT TJ Moore – listed as 6’4” 270, I can tell you he’s probably more in the 280-285 range.  He has nice feet and a good frame.  I think he could do with a redshirt year but he may be pressed into service and I think he should be able to hold up at least decently this year.  Rivals ranked him in the top 200 prospects nationally and he was heavily recruited by South Carolina, North Carolina, Auburn and others.  He was a nice late pickup for the staff.

4 star OT Kadeem Telfort – big dude at 6’6” and 320.  He is on campus already which gives him a great shot at getting on the field next year as a top backup.  He was pretty highly regarded but committed to UF early and enrolled early which kept others away more than would have been the case otherwise.

Only 2 guys sounds bad but the Gators have picked up 10 OL in the last two years and the state is particularly loaded at OL next year.  Additionally Slaton could slide over to this side of the ball if DT does not work out and there is a good chance the Gators will pick up transfer Jake Fruhmorgen so only taking 2 for right now is not necessarily bad.  I know the coaches wanted one more but even if we do end up with just these two, I think its OK given the facts listed above.  The quality of the ones taken was good and on paper at least, was a cut above what we had signed the last two years with only Martez Ivie being rated higher than a 3 star.  There were some major and disappointing misses at this position this year – there’s no way to sugarcoat that.   We wanted Leatherwood, Ashley and Donaldson and missed on all 3.  We got a couple of good prospects but no great ones.  This was a better effort this year but needs to get better still next year.   Grade B

Running back = 2

4 star Malik Davis….”only” a 4 star and a fairly low 4 star at that.  His rating by the services is a complete joke IMO.  Auburn signee Devan Barret was from the same area and was much more highly rated (the #8 back in America by Rivals).  Davis way outrushed Barrett.  Had way more TDS.  Averaged a full 2 yards per carry more.  Was named the top player in the county.  A whole slew of others from Clemson to scUM to the Buttsniffers and others tried to pry him away from us but he’s only a fairly low 4 star.  Riiiiiiight.   He’s not a big dude at 5’10 and about 190 but then again, those were Emmitt Smith’s measureables coming out of high school too.

4 star Adarius Lemons was considered the top back in the state before a love of weed got him booted out of his high school for a semester.  His academics were also shaky.  He has since made a lot of progress academically, gotten back into his high school and done everything the coaches demanded of him which is why he was given a 2^nd chance.  Prior to his off the field issues, he was rated as the top back in the state and was a very good receiver out of the backfield.  At 6’1” 192 he is fast and a dangerous open field runner.

There are no 5 star studs but the talent of the two 4 star backs is good.  Davis is seriously underrated IMO.  Grade B+

Tight End = 1

4 star Kemore Gamble – Gamble is a wide receiver who kept growing and growing and growing.  He is now 6’4 and is still a bit light at 216.  He is a good route runner and has good hands.  He is said to like hitting people and is a good blocker.  Obviously he will need to eat and hit the weights in Gainesville.  Gamble is a good looking prospect who was offered by several major programs (eg scUM, Bama, etc) but chose UF early and early enrolled.  He’ll get a shot at early Playing Time.

This was originally 2 guys but academics sidelined the other.  Gamble is a good prospect. We will need to pick up 1-2 next year to get this position where we want it to be in Coach Mac’s Offense. Grade B+

Wide Receiver = 3

4 star Daquon Green 6’1” and has good hands Green is a good prospect and could develop into an effective possession type WR.

3 star Kadarius Toney – he played everywhere in high school and wants a shot at QB.  He will be given that shot but most think his natural position is as a slot WR.  The dude is electric with the ball In his hands we will see what kind of player he develops into.  He’s not that highly rated but is one the coaches identified and offered early so they clearly wanted him.  We’ll see in time whose judgment was right on this one.

4 star James Robinson – its all about the off the field issues with him.  He has a troubled past and has made some dumb – though not truly bad – decisions.  Robinson comes from a very tough background with a mother who is a longtime drug addict and a father who is in prison.  He was held back a year due to poor academics in the past.  The UF administration tried to block the coaches from signing him and in a dramatic reversal after Coach Mac obviously went to bat for him, he was allowed to come on board.  Hopefully the fact that Coach Mac went to such lengths for him (after calling 18 other coaches to try to get Robinson placed somewhere at a good program once it looked like we would not be able to take him) and the opportunity to straighten his life out will motivate Robinson to seize the opportunity he has been given.  On the field this guy is a player.  He’s 6’4” over 200 pounds, goes up and catches the ball in traffic or wherever.  He is big and physical and can – and will – simply overpower smaller cornerbacks.  He is a difference maker.

We missed on Donovan Peoples-Jones and we missed on Jerry Jeudy both of whom we really wanted.  The only top shelf prospect is Robinson who is risky but Wr was not a

huge area of need this year after we signed 5 last year.  I have no doubt these guys are better than the ones who are departing at the position so we’ve definitely made it stronger.  Grade B+

Quarterback =1

3 star Jake Allen – he was much more highly rated early on in his career.  He came on strong as a Sophomore and then never really took the next step and fell in the rankings.  He’s a standard pocket passer type with limited mobility.  Although he appears to be fairly heady, he has a decent though not great arm.  His senior season was considered rather disappointing before having a good game in the state championship. 

We flirted with transfer Grant Stidham.  We flirted with taking another dual threat type QB.  This was a rather disappointing haul at this position.  Grade C.

Overall….a good class.  One that shows we are moving in the right direction.  Not a great class.  Too many misses on too many top prospects we most wanted.  That is especially so for top in-state prospects.  Overall grade B+

For next year, here’s an Example.  Lorenzo Lingard is a 5 star back from greater Jax.  We want him.  DO NOT ALLOW somebody like Bama or the Buttsniffers Urban or KliemPson to come in to our state and steal him.  That’s exactly the kind of bullcrap that must end.  No excuses.  Get it done.  There is simply no good reason why we should not be getting our share of the state’s top prospects.  Its not like we can waltz into other people’s states and regularly make off with the crown jewels.

We will need to restock on the Offensive Line with about 4 next year and Defensive End will be a major priority.  We will need a legit stud QB.  A top shelf punter is a necessity also as is another TE if not two.  Two more good DTs are also a priority.