Florida Gators recruiting mailbag December 10th edition

Florida Gators recruiting is doing well and this week’s recruiting mailbag had a lot of great questions about how prospects view the Florida Gators after their loss to Alabama.

As you have noticed Gator Country and Andrew Spivey have mixed things up and we have taken our Florida Gators recruiting mailbag to podcast form, as well as continuing the written version of the mailbag.

Make sure to listen as Andrew answer’s everyone’s questions from this mailbag and don’t forget to get your questions in every week so he can answer your question next time on all things Florida Gators recruiting.

Here’s the written version of this week’s Florida Gators recruiting mailbag:

67viking: In the event Jacob Eason was to flip to UF, hasn’t Isaac Nauta stated that they would like to play together? Is Eason the type of player who would recruit for his school? Seems like it would be in his best interest to get as many good players to commit with him.

AS: Right now I’m going to say that I don’t think Nauta goes to Florida even if Eason does. Eason is a player that will attract other players to Florida and recruit for them. Eason would be a big splash for the Gators.

 

Lemonhope: Who are the top priorities for this class? Who are the coaches pushing for most? Who are coaches starting to recruit now that they hadn’t been before due to coaching changes and uncertainty? Any five stars?

AS: Florida is hard after several guys but I would say Mack Wilson, Nate Craig-Myers, and Jacob Eason are the top priorities. Eddy Pineiro is also another top priority.

 

Sammage: What are your thoughts on Mack Wilson? Is he playing a game by keeping us #1 while clearly being interested in Kirby Smart, or is it the other way around? Just seems like a song I’ve heard before where kids were 100% Gators… oops, there goes the FSU hat on his head.

AS: I don’t think Mack Wilson is trolling anyone at all. I know he has a close relationship with Kirby Smart and that will make Georgia tough to beat, but he also likes Florida a lot. Official visits will be huge in January for Wilson.

 

MrB-Gator: Any Juco offensive line possibilities in this class?

AS: Mike Summers visited Malcolm Pridgeon on Tuesday but right now he’s a long shot, so I’m going to say that I don’t think Florida gets any JUCO offensive linemen this year.

 

Hoganmac97: Any updates with Terrance Davis and any chance with Marlon Davidson?

AS: Terrance Davis says he’s going to visit Florida in January and if he does that Florida has a shot, but right now I’m saying he stays close to home or goes to Michigan. Marlon Davidson sticks with Auburn in my opinion.

 

TheGator: Do you expect Eason to make it to Athens this weekend?

AS: Yes, from everything I’ve heard, I expect him to visit Georgia this coming weekend.

 

TheGator: Ben Davis, Marlon Davidson, and Mack Wilson. What are our chances of landing each of these guys?

AS: Ben Davis is going to Alabama or Georgia but his dad is former Crimson Tide player so I don’t see him going anywhere else besides Alabama.

 

Wilbur11: How many defensive ends will we take? How many defensive tackles will we take?

AS: I know that Florida would love to have four defensive ends in the class and 1-2 defensive tackles in the class to help keep the depth on the line of scrimmage up for the coming years.

 

Gatorgolfer1: What recruit are the coaches most excited about? Whether they’re committed already or not. Who do they think has the most upside? Example Antonio Callaway last year, they knew he was a diamond in the rough.
Do you see them or any recruit making an immediate impact on the field as a freshman?

AS: I think Chauncey Gardner is a guy they expect to play next year as well as Mark Thompson and some of the receivers like Freddie Swain, Josh Hammond and Nate Craig-Myers are guys that they would hope can play next year. As far as under the radar guys go, Lamical Perine and Aaron Robinson are two of those guys that Florida feels great about.

 

Trina_dc: Assuming Franks sticks with Florida, is he still wanting to play baseball as well? I thought he was told by LSU he could play both, would Florida let him if he wanted to?

AS: I haven’t heard anything about this but it will be tough for Franks to play baseball and go through spring practice but if he wants to do it then I’m sure Jim McElwain will try to work with him on that.

 

90gator: Florida surprised many by starting out the season 6-0 and then struggled down the stretch due to QB play etc…How, has this positively or negatively impacted recruiting? By position?

AS: All positive from what I’ve heard because nobody expected them to be as good as they were and the Gators coaching staff showed what they can do with a quarterback under center so things were a success this year.

 

Okcgator: How do you feel about our chances with the pair from American Heritage? Are we still looking good with Nick Eubanks after the FSU/Bama games?

AS: I think Florida is in great shape for Nick Eubanks and Brian Burns, but it will be interesting to see what Mark Richt does at Miami and if he’s able to make any head way with those two. I think Florida leads for both as of now though.

 

Jmike131014: Still Feel good about McArthur Burnett, Jeremiah Moon , Aaron Robinson and Isaiah Johnson being in the class at this time?

AS: Yes, I still feel good about those guys. South Carolina is recruiting Burnett hard right now, but his family loves Florida. Moon is being courted by Mississippi State hard right now but his relationship with Geoff Collins is good. Robinson and Johnson are taking visits but I feel great about them as well.

 

Jhenderson: On a more serious note, which DT prospects do the staff now dial up the heat on, now that Dexter Lawrence is completely off the board? Any potential JUCO guys out there, a la Jarran Reed?

AS: I expect North Carolina State defensive tackle commit Ben Frazier to get recruited hard now but there are not really any JUCO guys that Florida is interested in.

 

Haljordan: Where do we sit with Nate Craig-Meyers?

AS: Florida is still in good shape here but Florida State, Auburn and Ole Miss are all pushing for him but the Gators have done a great job here so far.

 

Goosegator: At 25 commitments, and a projected class of 28, even if we have some de-commitments, how do we make room for the potential 8-10 more commits that we are courting/leaning Florida’s way?

AS: I think Florida goes over 28 this year and some guys will leave the class and that will help things out. We won’t know a true number until we see how many guys early enroll at Florida in January.

 

Wuerffel5220: Is Tre Nixon waiting for more publicity to announce? Seems like he’s been a UF lock for awhile now

AS: I wish I could answer this question but I really don’t know what he’s waiting on because he has told people around him for weeks that he was ready to make his decision but just hasn’t. I expect that to come before Christmas, but who really knows.

 

Kpr1386: What is your estimate on the number of current commits who will NOT sign with UF, the number of uncommitted prospects that will sign with UF and the number of prospects committed to other schools that will flip to UF?

AS: I think you will see four guys out of this class that don’t end up at Florida come February. I’m not sure on a total number of flips at this point but it will be a few from what I’ve heard.

 

Swampie: Where do you think our next commitments come from? With the season over I’d expect some EEs to sign their grants. So perhaps some of those guys will be next commits, some who’ve committed and a couple who haven’t. We can still take as many as 32 if we get the proper amount of EE right? Is that number seven or eight? Thanks Andrew.

AS: Florida can really take 12 early enrollees but only seven can count back to last year but I think the next commit could be either at quarterback if Jacob Eason flips or maybe linebacker. Someone could always pop up but there are several guys on official visits this weekend that it could come from, so it’s tough to say for sure.

 

Okcgator: Have we tried getting into the game with LB Ben Davis? Seems like he is pretty tight with guys like Mack Wilson and Marlon Davidson. Doesn’t seem like he has any interest but I’m just curious.

AS: He’s Alabama’s to lose right now but Georgia is trying to get in the mix as well with Kirby Smart there. I doubt Florida gets into the game much here.

 

Hbgator: Can scholarships left over from last count towards the EE’s this year. What is the grand total of EE’s we can sign?

AS: Yes they can count back seven to last year and they can take 12 early enrollees in January.

 

Macbgator: Other than Eddy Pineiro, who are we recruiting as kickers in this class?

AS: Florida as several guys on the board that they’re monitoring but they’re waiting on Pineiro to decide first.

 

Captainjoe24: On a serious note, if we were to get Eason, does that open the door for other recruits that we possibly were on the outside looking in on prior to a Commitment from the QB? Specifically WR and OLine?

AS: If Eason commits then players will be excited for sure, but we will have to wait and see if they gain any new names because of it or not. I expect new names will pop up though.

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.

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