Several Florida Gators targets receive Opening Invites

Nike’s “The Opening” has become a huge event and this past weekend the regional qualifying events started in Florida.

Prospects attend these qualifying events in hopes of earning an invite to Beaverton, Oregon to attend “The Opening” in July and this weekend prospects attended either the Miami or Orlando events in Florida.

Several of Florida’s targets were in attendance at the combine that includes players running the 40 yard dash, vertical jump, throwing the medicine ball and also performing position drills.

After each event is over the staff from Student Sports will pick MVP’s at each position and also hand out Opening invites to the top players.

Here is who was invited to the Opening from Orlando and who they are interested in.

QB Felipe Franks (6-6, 203, Crawfordville, FL Wakulla) is committed to LSU but Florida and Florida State are pushing hard for the quarterback.

 

RB Tony Jones Jr. (5-11, 210, Bradenton, FL IMG Academy) has high interest in Florida, Notre Dame, Kentucky, Miami and South Carolina among others.

 

WR Demetrius Robertson (6-0, 167, Savannah GA. Christian School) is committed to Alabama but Georgia, Florida and others are still pushing for him. Robertson could play receiver or defensive backs in college.

 

OL Baveon Johnson (6-3, 279, Lakeland, FL Lake Gibson) has been considered one of the top interior lineman in the country and he has Florida State leading right now but he will visit Florida for junior day on March 14th.

LB Jonathan Jones (6-2, 210, Orlando, FL Oak Ridge) is an under the radar prospect that a lot of schools are still evaluating right now. Florida and Florida State are monitoring him while Miami and Michigan have already offered him.

LB Rahshaun Smith (6-2, 226, Bradenton, FL IMG) is wide open in his recruitment right now but hasn’t shown much interest in Florida. Smith is from Maryland so he doesn’t have any ties to the instate schools.

CB Chauncey Gardner (5-11, 190, Cocoa, FL High) was once committed to Florida and Miami but now says the Gators lead Florida State and Ohio State. Gardner is scheduled to visit Florida soon and his high school coaches brother was just hired at Florida so that could help.

The following guys were named MVP’s at their respective positions from the Orlando camp.

QB Feleipe Franks

RB Tony Jones Jr.

WR Dock Luckie (6-1, 170, Gainesville, FL High) currently has no big offers but those are certain to come after his big weekend in Orlando this past weekend.

OL Baveon Johnson

DL Jachai Polite (6-4, 230, Daytona Beach, FL. Mainland) doesn’t have an offer from any of the big 3 in Florida but does hold an offer from North Carolina, South Florida and UCF but more are to come surely.

LB Rahshaun Smith

DB Chauncey Gardner

 

On Saturday the Nike event was at American Heritage High School for the Miami portion of the Opening Regional and here is who were invited to the Opening and who they are interested in.

WR Sam Bruce (5-8, 178, Fort Lauderdale, FL St. Thomas Aquinas) is committed to Miami but Florida is trying to change his mind. Bruce and Florida signee Jordan Scarlett are very close and that will help the Gators chances. Bruce plans to visit Florida this spring.

DE Brian Burns (6-3, 201, Plantation, FL American Heritage) just received an offer from Florida and says he plans to visit Florida this spring. Burns however says he is wide open in his recruitment.

LB Devin Bush (6-0, 215, Pembroke Pines, Flanagan) is an FSU legacy but says that Georgia leads Florida State early on. Florida is pushing to get him on campus this spring or summer though.

CB Trayvon Mullen (6-2, 160, Coconut Creek, FL. High) has LSU high on list but Florida State and Ohio State are also high up there. Mullen has never really shown a tremendous amount of interest in Florida but the Gators will try to change that.

 

Those four earned Opening invites but here’s who won MVP’s at their respective positions and whom they are interested in.

QB Tyler Huntley (6-0, 164, Hallandale Beach, FL High) has Louisville high on his list but other big schools are starting to evaluate him. Florida hasn’t contacted Huntley yet.

RB Devin Singletary (5-9, 190, Delray Beach, FL American Heritage School) hasn’t received much interest from the Big 3 but that could change this spring.

2017 WR Trevon Grimes (6-4, 191, Fort Lauderdale, FL St. Thomas Aquinas) has Ohio State as his leader due to the fact he’s from Ohio.

2017 OL Tedarrel Slaton (6-5, 310, Plantation, FL American Heritage) is a Miami commit and seems solid to the Canes.

DL Brian Burns

LB Bryce Handy (6-1, 218, Miami, FL Columbus) is a Miami legacy but has yet to receive an offer from Miami. Kentucky is the biggest offer for Handy to date.

DB Korel Smith (5-11, 173, Miramar, FL High) has no big offers yet but he’s a guy that hasn’t made many visits yet.
Make sure to stay tuned to GatorCountry.com as we will have all of the latest from these Nike events plus all of the Opening invites.

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.

2 COMMENTS

  1. This is not a criticism of Jim McElwain. I think he is a winner who will make the Gators a winner once again. My Question: is Florida slow in the player evaluation process. Example: The Gators evaluate a kid, make him an offer and we read that the young man is already a Miami, or FSU or Georgia commit. How come?

    • FSU, Alabama and others have been recruiting this guys for well over a year and McElwain is just now getting to start recruiting these guys because his first month on the job was focused on getting the class of 2015 done.