Recruiting season is going to pick up a great deal on Monday when coaches can start to visit prospects in-home as well as at their school once a week until the dead period starts on December 15th.
While the coaches will be busy on the road during the week, the weekends will be just as busy as more prospects will start to take official visits to schools as there are only five weekends available for prospects to take visits.
That is what makes things tougher at Florida right now as the Gators aren’t likely to host any prospects this coming weekend so that means the new coaching staff would only have one weekend to host prospects until the dead period starts on December 15th and that is if they have a coach by then.
I say all of this because the Gators only hosted seven official visitors during the season under Will Muschamp so the new head coach will have a great opportunity to bring in a lot of top prospects.
I think it’s also a big key for the Florida Gators to be able to host official visitors on the weekend of December 13th when the Gators will host their annual banquet/awards dinner for the 2014 football season.
The good news for Florida is that worst case scenario they will have three weekends in January to recruit before National Signing Day and with a new coach on board there will be plenty of momentum around the program and it’s also great to get an official visit close to signing day so that you’re one of the last people to speak to the prospect in person.
Here are the seven prospects that have already taken an official visit to Florida so they won’t be able to take another one under the new head coach.
Tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe- Imatorbhebhe took an official for the Kentucky game but the Gators will have a good shot at getting him back on campus for an unofficial visit as the Gators will battle against Cal for his signature if the new coach likes Imatorbhebhe.
Offensive lineman Martez Ivey- Good news for Florida is that Ivey has also already spent his official visit to Auburn so both of the lineman’s top schools can’t host him for an official again. This is where Florida has the edge because Ivey is just over two hours away from Gainesville and can visit at anytime.
Florida receiver commit Derrick Dillon-This one might hurt the Gators the worst because Dillon just received an LSU offer and Gainesville is a good 9 hour trip for him. Dillon has taken several unofficial visits to Florida in the past so it’s not impossible that he returns again but this is the one prospect that hurts Florida that he has already taken an official visit.
Notre Dame linebacker commit Tevon Coney- Will Muschamp and his staff slowed played Coney during his recruitment which led him to commit to Notre Dame but with a new staff coming in they may show Coney the love he wants from Florida. The bad news is that Coney is an early enrollee so they will have to act fast.
Ohio State linebacker commit Jerome Baker-He decommitted and isn’t interested in the Gators so not much to say here.
Safety Tim Irvin-Irvin has used three official visits already with one going to UF, one to Texas and the other to West Virginia. The Gators will have a good shot at getting him back on campus again.
Cornerback Mike Hughes-Hughes is an early enrollee so it will be tough to get him back on campus again with only two weekends to go and only one likely for him to visit. The good news for Florida is that Hughes likes Florida a lot and a visit back to campus may not be needed if the new coach is able to go visit him in-person.
One thing is for certain and that’s that recruiting is about to get fun and intense for the Florida Gators.