Florida Football Recruiting: Gators have chance to cycle back on Alabama commits
All is fair in love and war and in the wake of Nick Saban retiring from Alabama, Florida football has the chance to cycle back around on a couple of recruits they missed out on during the early signing day process.
Florida Football: Second Chances
In college football the rule states that if the head coach of a team leaves that players are granted a 30 day window to decide if they went to hop into the transfer portal.
We will also state that until a player is officially in the transfer portal, other schools can't legally contact players to gauge their interest in transferring. So no, Billy Napier can't just start DMing players on Alabama's roster.
But this is college football, back channels exists, and if one doesn't think that every school engages in at least some form of tampering then one isn't paying attention.
"Oh, so you want Florida to cheat and get hit with massive penalties"
We want Florida to do what everyone else in college football does.
Of note for Alabama, Jameer Grimsley and Zay Mincey were two players that the Gators made a push for and were still in the running for through Decemeber, but ultimately lost out on to Alabama.
Grimsley is the four-star wide receiver out of Tampa Catholic who committed to Alabama back in July, and according to 247 Sports the only visit he took between July and Early Signing Day was the official visit he made to Gainesville in December. He is a speedster, with a personal best of 10.84 seconds in the 100-meter dash.
Mincey is the high school teammate of Florida's five-star signee LJ McCray. After Florida lost out on Xavier Filsaime, all eyes turned to Mincey, who had originally been projected to sign with Florida. But the tea leaves quickly shifted and it became clear the highly regarded safety would sign with Alabama.
Florida does have a speedster in Jerrae Hawkins at wide receiver as part of the class of 2024, so Grimsley isn't as crucial of a get. And while Florida did secure the commitment of Josiah Davis and Gregory Smith for safety, both are three-star safeties that have a far lower floor than that of Mincey.
Maybe both players knew Saban was leaving and/or if Alabama winds up grabbing Dan Lanning they feel comfortable with their choice. It doesn't mean the tires can't be kicked to try and keep them in the Sunshine State.