Florida, Jon Sumrall on the verge of landing a touted, in-state, 4-star pass-rusher

Always be 'crootin'. When Jon Sumrall took over at Florida, some folks were concerned about his recruiting chops. While he won prolifically at Tulane and Troy before that, this was at the Group of Five level. What is important to know is any number of SEC programs wanted to hire the former Green Wave head coach. He looks to be on the verge of landing a four-star prospect in Frederick Ards III.

Rivals' Chad Simmons has locked it in that this four-star edge rusher shall be heading to Gainesville.

According to the 247Sports Composite, Ards is the No. 9 player from Florida, the No. 11 edge rusher rusher in the country, and the No. 74 overall prospect nationally. He has 23 official offers, drawing considerable interest from the likes of Alabama, Florida State, South Carolina, and Texas A&M, in addition to Florida. This would be a massive recruiting win for Sumrall if Ards does commit to Florida.

Sumrall's Florida staff just made a visit to Ards a little over a month ago, and it seems to have paid off.

4-star EDGE Frederick Ards III has been predicted to commit to Florida

As hinted at above, these are the type of players Sumrall needs to have excited about coming to Gainesville. He was hired to do what none of his predecessors could do. Florida should be able to get into playoff contention in short order, based on Sumrall's coaching track record previously. While Miami is up, Florida State is down bad, and UCF is struggling with the move up to the Power Four, too.

One of the best ways to claw one's way back up a deep conference like the SEC is to be menacing in the trenches. Ards is a player that not only Florida State wanted, but Alabama, South Carolina, and Texas A&M would have loved to have him as well. The latter three schools in particular have done a great job in recent years of recruiting and developing defensive linemen. Florida usually does well.

Overall, Sumrall is in a rare grace period with this job. While anything and everything he does will be analyzed and scrutinized, he will get the benefit of the doubt up until toe meets leather in six or so months. Right now, Florida is on the uptick, mostly because Billy Napier is no longer involved with the program. Sumrall was hired to make a difference. He appears to be doing that on the recruiting trail.

Being able to land Ards' commitment could play a huge factor in Florida turning it around here soon.