The wide receiver group is a continued focal point for Florida Football this offseason. The Gators are losing their top two pass catches from 2024, and the depth of Florida's receiver room for 2025 feels incomplete at the moment.
We have chronicled here a number of prospects in the first wave of the transfer portal that all passed on Florida. But the Gators are still hunting and pecking and appear to be on the radar for a former five-star prospect.
Florida Football: Kick the tires
Johntay Cook II was a five-star prospect out of the class of 2023. Florida was in Cook's top five during recruiting, and he took an official visit to the Gators back in June of 2022, but he ultimately signed with Texas.
Cook caught eight passes as a true freshman but had hopes of cracking the lineup in 2024. Instead, Texas grabbed three receivers out of the transfer portal who all beat Cook out (Matthew Golden, Isaiah Bond, and
Silas Bolden). Combined with fellow class of 2023 member DeAndre Moore Jr. also beating Cook out for snaps, and Cook didn't have a catch since their September 28 win over Mississippi State.
Cook formally left the program back in early November and is in the transfer portal with two seasons of eligibility left.
According to a report from 247, Florida is on the radar for Cook and is trying to lock down a formal visit to Gainesville.
Cook would fall into the category of a reclamation project and it would be up to Billy Napier to decide if Cook still has the five-star potential he had two years ago and was simply a victim of Texas loading up in the portal.
As it stands right now, Florida has one commit from the transfer portal, punter Tommy Doman from Michigan.