As Florida Gators wrap up another weekend of official visitors to Gainesville, one prospect in town is a reminder of the types of hurdles Billy Napier and crew sometimes have to navigate to get guys to stick.
However, if Florida can secure this prospect, they will have an SEC-sized defensive lineman right away when he steps on campus.
JaReylan McCoy takes an official visit with the Florida Gators
JaReylan McCoy is an DL from Mississippi listed at 6'6" and 245 pounds. McCoy is an interesting case study as ESPN lists him as the 9th best prospect in the country, On3 and Rivals have him as a top 200 overall 4-star, and 247 has him as a 3-star.
Back in February of 2024, he ranked in the top 20 overall in the 247 Composite but has since fallen to 122nd.
He was hurt for a portion of his junior season and doesn't have public film available. Based on his sophomore film, one can see why he was ranked as high as he was.
His size pops off immediately, and he could have walked onto an SEC campus as a sophomore and fit right in.
Andrew Ivins of 247 went into detail back in December as to why he has McCoy so much lower than everyone else:
"At his best when he can create an advantage with his 36-inch arms, but needs to get better at engaging his lower half and learn how to consistently play with a flat back as there are too many times when he gets washed away at the point of attack. Should be viewed as a developmental prospect that's going to need to get in the squat rack and buy into the process, but one with a higher ceiling given the frame and lateral movement skills."
To add to McCoy's subplot, he committed to LSU back in January and had Tennessee and Southern California as his other two finalists.
A month later, McCoy decommitted from LSU, and now it appears to be Florida, Ole Miss, and Texas who are the front runners for McCoy.
On paper, McCoy is set to commit on July 1, and Florida has been aggressively pursuing McCoy. Based on how things have gone so far, we would imagine there are still some twists and turns in his recruiting saga.