Quick Hitter: Florida Gator Football Recruiting 11/6
Albert and fans are looking for some recruiting news to celebrate this month. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE
The Gators are still sitting on 19 commitments as of today with two transfers.
Greg Gilmore the 4-star defensive tackle from Hope Mills, NC South View High is set to make a decision. He’s expected to announce between Florida and LSU Thursday night. Thought to be an LSU lean throughout the process, he was very impressed by the Gators when he took his official visit the weekend of the Florida-LSU game. However, LSU got his last official visit this past weekend and he is expected by most recruiting experts to choose the Tigers.
In the secretive world of recruiting a not so secretive rumor was that Florida had two silent recruits, committed to other teams no less, that were ready to declare for the Gators the weekend of the South Carolina game. The story goes they had already informed the coaching staff of their intentions, stories were being prepared by media members, and they were going to announce post-game. For whatever reason it did not happen. Now apparently they are not silents any more, they have dropped the Gators all together.
Alex Anzalone is a 4-star outside linebacker from Wyomissing, PA that has flirted with the Gators the whole recruiting season and was originally committed to Ohio State before decommitting and then subsequently committed to Notre Dame. The word around recruiting circles was that it was only a matter of time before he switched to the Gators, his favorite team as a child, and the school from which his father graduated. The week after his official visit to Florida for the LSU game the rumors swirled that he had silently committed to the Gators. He cancelled an official to Notre Dame for the BYU game and many thought it was a done deal. As Lee Corso would say, not so fast my friend. The Notre Dame staff got him to take an official this past weekend, and he came out today and reaffirmed his commitment to Notre Dame with the caveat that he is shutting down his recruiting and would not take any more interviews.
David Dawson, a 4-star offensive tackle from Detroit, MI, was the other rumored “silent” and, like Anzalone, flirted with the Gators for many months while committed to another school (Michigan). Close friends with Gator commit Cameron Dillard, many thought it was only a matter of time before he committed to the Gators as well. It was rumored he would make it down for Friday Night Lights but the Michigan staff is not keen on commits visiting other schools so that idea was shut down. He finally de-committed from Michigan, or was dropped depending on who you talked to, on October 14 and it was all but a slam dunk he would commit to the Gators at that point. He came down the weekend of the South Carolina game on an official visit with Dillard and it was expected he would go public. In fact, the rumor was that he had already informed the staff of his impending commitment and had already authorized a story about his commitment be written. The game and weekend came and went with no commitment. Apparently, he was all ready to make public his commitment but when he got to Gainesville he had a change of heart. Apparently he was not impressed with Gainesville at all and more likely he realized he didn’t want to go so far away from his mother who was recently widowed when his father died.
Recruiting is a mad, mad world. As one expert is known to say, recruiting is not for the weak or faint of heart.
But wait, there’s more. Trenton Brown the mammoth Junior College tackle from Albany, GA is another recruit that was previously committed to another team (Georgia) and has been thought to be a Gator lean or even silent for some time now. He was recently offered by FSU, his childhood favorite team, but still lists the Gators as his leader. Many thought he would have already pledged to the Gators but for whatever reason has not. Brown is taking one last official visit to Oklahoma on November 24th and says he will unofficially visit FSU before making his final decision. He is expected to announce at the end of November or beginning of December and then enroll at his chosen school in January. His three finalists according to him are Florida, Oklahoma, and FSU. He is expected to announce for the Gators but once again you can never really predict the future in this game.
Finally, Gator legacy Marcell Harris, son of former Gator Mike “Mud” Harris, and a 4-star safety from Orlando, FL is expected to announce his choice on November 16th. He says the fact his father played for the Gators won’t enter in his decision. He’s tripped to four schools on official visits, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, and Florida State and those are the schools from which he will make his decision. He says his priorities are finding the staff that will best prepare him for the NFL and choosing a good engineering school. All signs point to him declaring for the Gators on November 16th.
At this point expected early enrollees are running backs Kelvin Taylor and Adam Lane, linebacker Daniel McMillan, defensive lineman Joey Ivie, and safety Marcell Harris if he chooses the Gators as expected. Additionally, offensive lineman Tyler Moore and Max Garcia both transfers will be there in January as will JC transfer Trenton Brown, again as long as he signs with Florida.