A few anxious days of waiting, highlighted by social media meltdowns from fans, have ended Tuesday.
The highest rated player in the 2018 recruiting class, Jacob Copeland, was announced as being enrolled Tuesday, ending a few precarious days for those that anxiously awaited official word that Copeland had made it to campus without fret.
Copeland is a talented receiver from Pensacola (Escambia High School), who committed to Jim McElwain’s staff. Copeland reopened his recruitment after McElwain’s departure. Alabama got squarely in the mix for his signature on National Signing Day but Copeland reaffirmed his commitment after Dan Mullen and his coaching staff put on the full court press.
Copeland joins a Gator receiver room that benefitted from the additions of Ole Miss transfer Van Jefferson and Ohio State transfer Trevon Grimes. Those two along with Tyrie Cleveland, Josh Hammond, Kadarius Toney and Copeland give Florida a talented, albeit unproven, group of receivers. Both Grimes and Jefferson continue to wait official, final word on their playing statuses for 2018 after transferring.
Copeland wasn’t the only player to enroll for Summer B classes this week. Mullen and the Gators also welcomed defensive back John Huggins, athlete Justin Watkins, tight end Dante Lang, defensive lineman Malik Langham, kicker Evan McPherson tight end Kyle Pitts.
The Gators also added three preferred walk ons in long snapper Marco Ortiz, linebacker Umstead Sanders and athlete Jaylin Jackson.
Florida also added JUCO transfer tight end Lucas Krull earlier this summer. The former baseball player originally committed to and spent the 2016-17 season playing baseball at Arkansas. He had a mid-90s fastball but struggled with command and never pitched during the regular season before transferring to Jefferson College in Hillsborough, Missouri. Krull hasn’t played football since high school but that season he hauled in 52 passes for 815 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior.