As information filtered out about practice earlier this week, three names caught a lot of attention: Ethan White, Ja’markis Weston, and Trent Whittemore.
White got notice for appearing at first-string center. Though Dan Mullen was quick to point out that five players were getting reps at center, White learning the spot between a pair of veteran guards in Brett Heggie and Stewart Reese was big news.
White was a great surprise towards the end of 2019. Despite being a true freshman, he showed terrific mobility and toughness down the stretch from the right guard spot in the stretches when he played. Getting him accustomed to being in the middle now when he has those two older players to help guide him potentially means UF is set at center for the next three seasons. After last year’s iffy line play, having a guy who can lock down a spot for years to come should sound great to Gator fans.
Weston and Whittemore were always going to redshirt given how veteran-heavy last year’s receiving corps was. Even so, there was some reason for optimism. When asked on signing day 2019 who the overlooked gem was, Mullen picked Weston. And then in fall camp of last year, Whittemore received positive reviews from media for his abilities. On Tuesday, Mullen singled both of them out for praise for their work so far in the present fall camp.
Certainly there were plenty of other players who had good sessions, but I couldn’t help but notice White, Weston, and Whittemore all catching acclaim. The reason they stick out together?
They make up three of the five lowest-rated 2019 signees according to the 247 Sports Composite.
Weston was fifth from the bottom with a mid-to-high 3-star, 0.8763 rating. Whittemore and White tied for last at a mid 3-star, 0.8643 rating each.
Caveats apply. We’ve yet to see White snap in a game yet, and the two receivers only appeared in bit roles at the ends of blowouts while redshirting in 2019. With that said, Mullen isn’t the type to give out praise for no reason, and real game action showed White to have promise.
Now, 247 Sports says that while 4-star prospects comprise the top 10% of all high school recruits, high 3-stars still have NFL potential and mid 3-stars have Power 5 starting potential. One reason a recruit may be below the top 10% range is not having a Power 5-ready body, and that was the case with all three of those guys.
White needed to drop a lot of weight, and he made it happen under Nick Savage’s tutelage. Weston needed to grow into his lean and lanky frame, and it sounds like he’s doing it. Whittemore played multiple sports in high school, so he didn’t have a physique specialized to football.
But still, Mullen’s old boss liked to sell Florida as being the place for the top 1% of the top 1%, not ones below the top 10%. Accordingly, the Gator recruitniks out there have stressed about the recruiting rankings not reflecting an elite talent base.
The prior staff of Jim McElwain also caught a lot of flak for not having top-five rated recruiting classes, but it did a good job of finding talent at the 3-star level. Jabari Zuniga in 2015; David Reese, Lamical Perine, Brett Heggie, Vosean Joseph, Jachai Polite, and Jawaan Taylor in 2016; and Shawn Davis, Kadarius Toney, Kyree Campbell, Ventrell Miller, and Donovan Stiner in 2017 all came in as 3-star Composite players. And, this year’s starting quarterback who is working on “graduate-level stuff” after leading an Orange Bowl win was a 2-star signee in ’16.
Mullen appears to have continued finding some of those overlooked gems while also bringing in more high-end talent. Kyle Pitts, Jacob Copeland, and Amari Burney are 4-stars who were contributors in their second seasons, and Kaiir Elam, Khris Bogle, Mohamoud Diabate did the same as true freshmen. The 5-star drought finally broke last year with Gervon Dexter, and Mullen has another on the hook this year with corner commit Jason Marshall. Plus, Mullen has used the transfer portal to bring in some elite-rated talent like Trevon Grimes, Brenton Cox, Lorenzo Lingard, and Justin Shorter plus some proven entities in Jonathan Greenard and Reese.
Getting that high-end talent is important. Even with the superior coaching of Mullen and his staff, the teams mostly comprised of McElwain recruits couldn’t beat the elite recruiters. They were outclassed by Georgia in 2018. In 2019, they couldn’t keep up with LSU and spent most of the Georgia game down without the ability to complete a comeback late.
To date, Mullen is getting more of those blue chip guys but is still taking players with relatively lower ratings like White, Weston, and Whittemore. Them showing real promise is potential proof of concept, that the staff really is significantly better at identifying what they want than the recruiting services are. The model is less of Alabama and UGA hoovering up as many top-rated guys as possible and more like that of Clemson, which until the 2020 cycle wasn’t a mainstay in the top five of the Composite rankings.
Mullen’s strategy of taking some of these longer-term bets takes time to pay off, and Gator fans aren’t known for their patience. It’s still too early to proclaim it a success, and the same goes for calling it a failure or anything in between, but there are some signs of positive return on investment appearing.