Gainesville Sun sports correspondents Graham Hall and Zach Abolverdi talk about the Gators new coaching hire and new recruiting updates.
The penultimate weekend before National Signing Day will be a fairly quiet if not critical one for the Florida Gators.
Florida expects to host two 2019 prospects on official visits over the weekend — linebacker Diwun Black and defensive end Khris Bogle.
Formerly committed to Dan Mullen while at Mississippi State before pledging to UF, Black was Florida’s lone commit to abstain from signing with the Gators during the early signing period last month, although, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Black will sign Feb. 6 and enroll at UF in the Summer.
Black, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 3 inside linebacker in the 2019 class, became the first Mississippian to play in last weekend’s Polynesian Bowl, and the former five-star prospect didn’t disappoint. 247Sports Brandon Huffman named Black the top overall defensive prospect in attendance, adding Black “shined all week” leading up to the game in Honolulu.
While Black is all but guaranteed to sign with the Gators on Feb. 6, Bogle’s future is cloudy. Bogle, ranked by 247Sports as the No. 3 weakside defensive end in the 2019 class, committed to Alabama on Jan. 5 — but that was before the Crimson Tide’s overhaul in the front office. Now, with former Gators defensive line coach Sal Sunseri in Tuscaloosa and Florida reportedly set to hire David Turner away from the University of Texas-San Antonio to fill Sunseri’s vacancy, Bogle’s decision is anything but clear cut.
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Good info as the intrigue narrows. Black-Bogle-Elam — two out of three would be great, three out of three would be spectacular. Sparky says Elam to Florida, common sense says Black to Florida……now Bogle would be somewhat of a coup so I’d surmise not to bet on it.
UCF better get on the stick if they’re going to win their 3rd straight national championship and get into the Big-12, but at least at #54 and 22 three stars out of a class of 22, they’re ahead of Kansas (115), Kansas State (68), and Texas Tech (63). 😉
Florida has plenty to offer not just on the football field and their arrow is pointing up. There are some cracks in Georgia and Alabama in that not everyone gets to play when they feel ready (depth) and sometimes a university will sell you something that isn’t there. Dan Mullen can point to actual success (not that Alabama and Georgia don’t have any) in turning around the program, and the plans for the facilities. HE also plays you early and there is less depth meaning better chances to get on the field. It is interesting that Bogle would consider Florida after Alabama hired Florida’s D-line coach. Go Gators!
Maybe the allure to Alabama isn’t quite the same, hard to say, but I think your points are a much more compelling reason to consider Florida. But even if he doesn’t, this class is shaping up to be a really good one and more success on the field this coming season would make the 2020 class, no doubt, a great one. If that all falls into place — no reason to think that it won’t — I can really see us “back” in 2021.
Now, Texas is already considered “back” by the sports media on the main, after a decent season. We’ll see, but I really don’t think so (yet). Nope, I’ll take Dan Mullen’s way of (re)building a championship team — one block at a time, one season at a time, and one game at a time.