How the Gators racked up on National Signing Day 2016

#Blessed Coach Mac’s sandwich-making skills helped us land more players than just our top kicker

Today marks a big day for the future of the Florida Gators. This year’s recruiting class is the first one Jim McElwain and his team recruited on their own after inheriting only four commitments from the Muschamp recruiting trail in December of 2014. The past few months have been full of visiting recruits across the country and selling them on the prestigious tradition that is the University of Florida’s Football Program.

Here’s a breakdown of how Coach Mac’s class is turning out:

National Signing Day Signees 2016

The players in bold indicate a signed and sent Letter of Intent. The asterisk indicates players who flipped to join UF.

  • Antonneous Clayton, WDE, from Vienna, GA, 4 star
  • Brett Heggie, OC, from Mount Dora, FL, 3 star
  • Christopher McWilliams, CB, from Miami, FL, 3 star
  • Jachai Polite, SDE, from Daytona Beach, FL, 3 star
  • Jawaan Taylor, OG, from Cocoa, FL 3, star
  • Jeawon Taylor, S, from Montgomery, AL, 3 star
  • Jeremiah Moon, OLB, Birmingham, AL, 4 star 
  • Joseph Putu, CB, from Arkansas, 3 star * 
  • Lamical Perine, RB, from Theodore, AL, 3 star
  • Quincy Lenton, S, from Meridian, MS, 3 star *
  • Rick Wells, WR, from Jacksonville, FL, 3 star
  • Tyrie Cleveland, WR, from Houston, TX, 4 star *
  • Vosean Joseph, OLB, from Miami, FL, 3 star

Direct impacts

Jawaan Taylor and Brett Heggie will help build depth among the very young offensive line that Coach McElwain had to throw right into the competition last year. This will fill in some holes where there were injuries and take some pressure off of the string of mostly young players. It would have been ideal to add a few more to this group, but those returning will be coming back with valuable experience from playing last season, so at least there will now be more veterans to be able to secure offensive success.

Tyrie Cleveland could be a major breakout for the Florida offense. Coach McElwain successfully flipped him from his hometown school and Gators should be very excited for the number two WR in the nation. Rick Wells, along with early enrollees Freddie Swain, Dre Massey, and Joshua Hammond also add on to the depth needed for the WR position. They will hopefully catch onto the momentum of true freshman Antonio Callaway’s impressive 2015 season. Adding in the pair of early enrollee Pro Style Quarterbacks expected to compete for the position, this might be the first we truly see of McElwain’s vision of Florida shifting to a real pro-style offense.

Expecting the unexpected

Most expected 4 star DE Brian Burns of Fort Lauderdale, FL to be leaning to the Gators, but after an official visit to FSU this past weekend, he signed to our least favorite school this morning around 8 am.

TE Jacob Mathis of Tampa, FL signed to Ole Miss as most expected, despite UF’s recruiting efforts.

4 star DT Shavar Manuel announced his decommitment from the Gators at 9:42 this morning via Twitter. He would have been one of the biggest grabs of the recruiting class and is now expected to sign with FSU after taking an official visit there this weekend.

Another unexpected moment happened this morning when Aaron Robinson flipped on UF and signed with Alabama.

At 1pm this afternoon Kristian Fulton signed to play for LSU. Sources say his family and coaches preferred he play there.

3:30pm this afternoon JuCo trasnfer Joseph Putu, CB 3 stars flipped his decision from Arkansas to UF. The last minute flip comes after never having visited the campus.

It’s good to be a Gator

Spring 2016 Early Enrollees

  • Chauncey Gardner, CB, from Cocoa, FL, 4 star
  • David Reese, ILB, from Farmington, MI, 4 star
  • Dre Massey, WR, from Hallandale, FL, 4 star
  • Eddy Pineiro, K, JuCo Transfer, from North Miami Beach, FL, 3 star
  • Feleipe Franks, Pro Style QB, from Crawfordville, FL, 4 star
  • Freddie Swain, WR, from Citra, FL, 4 star
  • Jordan Smith, WDE, from Lithonia, GA, 4 star
  • Joshua Hammond, WR, from Hallandale, FL, 4 star
  • Kyle Trask, Pro Style QB, from Manvel, TX, 3 star
  • Mark Thompson, RB, from Dodge City, KS, 4 star
  • McArthur Burnett, APB, from Pahokee, FL, 3 star
  • Stone Forsythe, OT, from Winter Garden, FL, 3 star

The Spring 2016 enrolled class was overall a promising one. The pro-style quarterbacks help to get on the right track of finding an offensive identity for the Gators after quarterback Will Grier decided to transfer after being suspended for 14 games for using an unapproved substance. RB Mark Thompson is also likely to begin competing to be thrown into rotation with Jordan Scarlett and Jordan Cronkrite after Junior RB Kelvin Taylor declared for the NFL draft this year.

CB Chauncey Gardner has the chance to compete for the position after first team All-American CB Vernon Hargeaves declared for the NFL draft this year.

Arguably one of the biggest direct impacts from the 2016 spring enrollee class will be Kicker Eddy Pineiro. After a disappointing season of missing special points and field goals, McElwain was able to land the number one junior college kicker of the recruiting class. Our weakness at this position became somewhat of a joke among the student section, and I sometimes heard louder cheers for a successful extra point than the touchdown that led up to it.

Overall, the Gators picked up a very talented class for 2016. While we had a much more successful recruiting season on offense than defense, we needed the most rebuilding there anyways. The road to Atlanta begins now!

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