The 2021 NFL Draft closed with eight Gators selected. Everyone who had a real shot heard their names called save Trevon Grimes and, maybe depending on how you evaluated him, Brett Heggie.
In the latter’s case, it could’ve gone either way. Heggie might’ve snuck into a late round due to his versatility of playing both guard and center plus his certified mean streak. He also had a long history of injuries that keeps his professional ceiling lower than it might otherwise be. It’s disappointing he was not taken, but it’s not a shock.
Grimes is much more of a surprise. He has real size and speed, and with three years of Billy Gonzales coaching under his belt, he’s a good route runner. I’ve heard and read about how he didn’t create enough separation consistently enough, and I guess that’s fair.
He never did have a breakout season. Grimes started at UF in a respectable spot at third on the team in receptions and yards as a sophomore in 2018 despite largely playing as a reserve. He finished in 2020 at third on the team in receptions and yards behind a pair of first round picks.
Not playing up to the best receiving tight end prospect ever and a totally unique talent in terms of moves and speed is nothing to be ashamed of. James DiVirgilio of the Gator Nation Football Podcast, who has a source in the program who feeds him the internal all-22 tape, also said consistently in his 2020 breakdowns that opponents would often bracket Grimes to keep him from beating them deep. With Kyle Pitts a matchup monster regardless of scheme and Kadarius Toney doing a lot of shorter stuff, there could be something to that. I don’t have a buddy in the film department, so I can’t corroborate or refute.
I do wonder if the lack of a Combine hurt Grimes as well. In my experience of observations, pro day times in the 40 tend to be faster than at the Combine. I don’t think the pro day ones are as fake as the times we used to see from Urban Meyer’s UF back in the day, but at programs across the country, the stopwatch folks and the setup are friendly to players.
I’m sure the same thing is in effect at Florida, but I didn’t see anything from the Gators’ pro day that looked flagrantly exaggerated. Grimes had a relatively honest 4.49 time, which probably translates to something in the 4.5 range at the Combine. That doesn’t stand out in as league where everyone wants a 4.3 time or better (if that’s even realistically possible) from receivers.
Marco Wilson going in a middle round is a perfect example of how the pro game is so geared around physical freaks at this point. Wilson had a good true freshman campaign but was never the same after his injury. The scheme didn’t help him last year, but he also appeared to make a few too many business decisions if you catch my drift. Yet, he put up some stunning measurables at pro day, so two years of inconsistent film lost their power to dominate his story.
Anyway, I was happy for Kyle Trask that he got to sneak into the second round and won’t be under pressure to perform right away. Even some hall of fame types like Drew Brees have a rough go of it early on, so getting to learn and get up to NFL speed is a boon to his longterm career.
With Trask and some others going pro now, the book is now all but closed on the 2016 recruiting class. Jeremiah Moon still has one more year to try to get healthy and Rick Wells is still around, but for the most part, it’s done what it’s going to do.
It is not as heralded as the 2006 or 2007 classes, and for good reason. It delivered nothing higher than a division championship. However among classes since ‘07, it has a case for being the best from the top to the bottom.
After all, Trask was the lowest rated recruit but became a Heisman finalist and second round draft pick. Seven of the bottom ten in the 247 Composite were major contributors and in some cases real pro prospects. In position from the bottom, they were:
10. Heggie
8. Vosean Joseph
7. Jachai Polite
6. Jawaan Taylor
5. Stone Forsythe
3. Eddy Piñeiro
1. Trask
One above Heggie was Lamical Perine, if you’re curious. The class also got a small bump in a way with Jordan Smith getting a fourth-round call from Meyer’s Jaguars; he washed out of the program in the wake of the credit card scandal and wound up at UAB.
That signing class has a few who didn’t pan out as all classes do, but the value from the 3-stars is absurdly good. Say what you will about the McElwain staff, and Lord knows I have over the years, but they had a real eye for talent. The 2017 class wasn’t as stellar, but its bottom ten included Toney, Malik Davis, Kyree Campbell, Ventrell Miller, James Houston, and Donovan Stiner. There are a ton of snaps, many of them of quality, represented in that list.
The Gators went through a rough patch there for a while but there were always good players. They just needed a staff that knew what it was doing to deploy them properly. In 2018, they finally got one.