Florida Gators recruiting preview for Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is the biggest Florida Gators recruiting event of the year and this year’s event is loaded with stars expected to visit Gainesville.

Not only will the Gators coaching staff host 2017 prospects but also they will host 2018, 2019 and even 2020 prospects on Friday night.

This event goes along with the quarterback camp that Gator Country previewed on Thursday morning.

Gator Country brings you a look at the expected visitors list for Friday night’s event.

 

Commits coming to town

Like most years the Gators coaching staff will have most of their commits on campus to help recruit other players. Headlining the list is quarterback Jake Allen who is also expected to compete in the quarterback camp on Friday.  Allen is the leader of the Gators class and will be recruiting for Florida on Friday.

Athlete Kadarius Toney will make the trip over from Alabama to attend the event and this will be his second visit to Gainesville. Defensive end Zach Carter and defensive tackle Jordon Scott have become frequent visitors to Gainesville and they will once again be in town.

Receiver Daquon Green and tight end Kemore Gamble were both on campus this past month for football camp and they will be back on Friday night. Gamble is returning from a visit to Alabama this past week where he picked up an offer from them.

Linebacker Ventrell Miller and offensive lineman Kadeem Telfort will make their first trip to Gainesville this summer as Miller was on campus this spring. Telfort hasn’t visited since last summer.

Florida has a pair of 2019 commits and both Jaleel McRae and Jaquaze Sorrells will be on campus on Friday night. Sorrells arrived on Thursday and will stay through Saturday.

 

Gators going for the flips

Every year prospects that are committed to other teams show up at Friday Night Lights and this is the case once again this year. Florida is expected to host several committed prospects to other schools this weekend.

Alabama offensive line commit Alex Leatherwood is one of the biggest targets on the Gators recruiting board and he’s scheduled to be in town. Leatherwood was at the Gators Pensacola satellite camp this past month.

Georgia offensive line commit D’Antne Demery has been high on the Florida recruiting board even though he’s committed to Georgia.

Miami defensive back commit C.J. Henderson has been flirting with Florida for sometime now and he will be back on campus for the third time this offseason. The Gators continue to recruit him.

Georgia defensive back commit Latavious Brini was a high target for the Gators this spring but Florida and others backed off some. Brini looks to impress the staff on Friday night and get the Gators back after him.

Miami offensive line commit Navaughn Donaldson will make his first trip to Gainesville but he has interest in the Gators. Florida has been working on hard on flipping the talented guard.

North Carolina running back commit Adarius Lemons is one of the Gators top targets and he will be back on campus for the first time in months. Offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and running backs coach Tim Skipper has been working on him in hopes of flipping him.

 

2017 offensive targets

Florida has a loaded group of offensive targets expected to visit on Friday and Saturday to see the campus and camp. This is by far one of the most talented groups of offensive players scheduled to attend camp in awhile.

Offensive lineman Toryque Bateman (6-7, 300, Gadsden, AL. Gadsden City) is looking for a Florida offer and a good camp performance should land him that offer. An offer from Florida would put the Gators in great shape for Bateman.

Receiver Jerry Jeudy is one of the top receivers in the country and he will be on campus for his second visit this summer. Alabama is the Gators biggest competition for Jeudy.

Offensive lineman Caleb Chandler listed the Gators as one of his favorites but this will be his first visit to campus for the offensive lineman.

Running back Colin Wilson is someone that has been on the Gators board but Florida has yet to get a visit from the running back. That’s scheduled to change on Friday night.

Offensive lineman Adrian Ealy will make the trip from Louisiana on Friday for Friday Night Lights. Ealy is tackle prospect that the Gators are watching closely.

 

2017 defensive targets

Florida is trying to reload the defensive side of the ball in the 2017 class and they have some of its top targets visiting this weekend. The Gators have a chance to gain momentum on some of their top targets with these visits.

Defensive back Shawn Davis has been a Gators lean for sometime now and Florida is hoping to land the talented prospect this weekend.

Safety Hamsah Nasirildeen arrived in Gainesville on Thursday night and was met by the entire defensive coaching staff. Nasirildeen is said to have both Florida and Alabama high on his list as he heads into the fall.

Safety Deangelo Gibbs is expected to be in Gainesville for the first time this summer but he has been talking to Florida a lot. Gibbs is one of the Gators top targets at safety this year.

Defensive back Marco Wilson told Gator Country that Florida is recruiting him hard and most believe the Gators and Miami are battling for him. Wilson wants to announce a decision soon and the Gators are hoping to take the momentum.

Defensive tackle Fred Hansard will make his first trip to Florida and its one Hansard has been waiting on. Defensive line coach Chris Rumph has been working Hansard and that landed them a visit.

Linebacker Nathan Proctor (6-2, 218, Indian Head, MD. Henry Lackey High) arrived on campus on Thursday for a two day visit. Proctor has interest in the Gators but right now teams closer to home are looking higher on his radar. The Gators hope to change that this weekend.

Linebacker James Houston recently tore his ACL but the Gators are still hard after him. Houston is someone to watch this weekend as Florida would like to lock up the talented linebacker despite his injury.

Defensive end LaBryan Ray has listed the Gators as one of his favorites for sometime but it will be his first visit to Gainesville this weekend. Ray is said to be leaning towards Alabama but Florida hopes to change that.  

Defensive back Brad Stewart will be on campus for the second time this summer and he has high interest in the Gators. Stewart was at LSU on Thursday but he wants to go out of state for college.

Defensive tackle M.J. Webb is scheduled to visit Florida on Friday night. Webb last visited this past spring.

Defensive end Jarez Parks is scheduled to visit Florida on Friday night and is a top target at end for the Gators to go along with Zach Carter.

Linebacker Rahyme Johnson (6-4, 210, Los Angeles, CA. Bishop Mora) is visiting Florida on Friday hoping to earn an offer from Florida. Johnson is friends with Gators commit Elijah Blades.

 

2018 targets

This years underclassmen targets that are planning on attending camp this year are very talented. This class of 2018 class is should be a special for head coach Jim McElwain and here who’s scheduled to attend on Friday.

Defensive tackle Timaje Porter
Receiver Jacob Copeland
Athlete Amari Burney
2018 WR Xavier Williams
Receiver Warren Thompson
Miami defensive back commit D.J. Ivey

Auburn defensive end commit Robert Hicks
Running back Ricky Slade
Offensive lineman C.J. Dunlap

Offensive lineman Desmond Bessent

Athlete Malik Cunningham

Offensive lineman Tank Jenkins
Defensive back Kyle McMichael
Defensive end Stacy Kirby (Orlando, FL. Jones)
Florida State running back commit Charles Strong
Florida State athlete commit Justin Watkins
Receiver Mark Pope
Defensive back Tyson Campbell (American Heritage)
Defensive back Josh Jobe (Miami, FL. Columbus)
Defensive back Al Blades Jr.
Running back Lorenzo Lingard

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.