Florida Football: Be excited for Cormani McClain, but don't forget about Devin Moore

Last week was a good one for Florida Football as the Gators were able to snag Cormani McClain and Elijhah Badger out of the transfer portal. The former of those two is a player Gator fans are very familiar with after a long winded recruitment process for the former five-star prospect saw him wind up at Colorado.

There is reason to believe McClain can reattain his five-star status, but don't overlook the player many assume will be the actual starter in 2024.

Florida Football: Moore Than Meets The Eye

Devin Moore didn't show up on campus as part of the class of 2022 with the same accolades as some other high profile recruits. While On3 had him as a top 100 player, 247 had him unranked and ESPN had him as a three star.

Playing behind Jason Marshall, Jaydon Hill, and Jalen Kimber, Moore had limited action his first two seasons but still took 194 snaps on defense in 2023.

His most significant playing time came against Arkansas when he played 65 snaps, and his best overall game came in the season finale against Florida State when he was targeted six times and only gave up one reception.

Now a junior, and with Hill off the Texas A&M and Kimber off to Penn State, it's time for Moore to step up into a starter's role. Pro Football Focus tweeted out a graphic over the weekend, dreaming of what it would be like to have Marshall and McClain line up on opposite sides of the field. If McClain develops, that still could happen, but the graphic seems to ignore that by PFF's own metrics, Moore was graded out as Florida's best player on defense in 2023.

If Moore can continue his solid play from 2023 over an entire season as a starter and Marshall can return the form that had some projecting him as a first round draft pick before the 2023 season, the Gators might just have a pair of lockdown corners for 2024.

It just might not be the pair most national publications think.