Last year Florida Football found a bit of a diamond in the rough when they signed George Gumbs out of Northern Illinois. He didn't have an elite 2024 season like some want to believe, but he had a solid campaign that was far better than what anyone predicted when he came to Gainesville.
Billy Napier and crew are hoping to go to the well once more and has landed Kofi Asare out of UMass.
Florida Football: Attack attack
Like Gumbs last year, the metrics for Asare don't pop out as a must-have. He had three sacks and 13 hurries playing for UMass, which is independent but played a wide mixture of opponents, including Missouri, Mississippi State and Georgia.
Asare was not a widely recruited prospect out of the class of 2022. ESPN graded him as a three-star, while the other services did not rank him. He was listed at 6'5" and 215 pounds coming out of high school, and has since grown to over 250 pounds. Right now, he matches the size of Gumbs but still lags behind guys like Tyreak Sapp or Kamran James.
But on film, there is some reason to believe that with refinement, there are tools to work with to have Gumbs level of production. He holds the edge well in the run game and has some speed to chase down a running back who tries to bounce outside. On pass rush, there is some wasted motion, but his motor doesn't stop, and once he gets to a QB, he is not one to gently bring someone to the ground.
CHECK MY🎥 OUT! pic.twitter.com/9WOIOFFQmu
— Kofi Asare (@kofi_asare1) December 11, 2024
Washington State, Georgia State, Michigan State, Missouri, Virginia, South Florida, Mississippi State, and Iowa State also were kicking the tires for Asare.
He will come to Gainesville with two years of eligibility left after redshirting in 2022, taking just 18 snaps in 2023, and taking 373 snaps in 2024.