Four-star receiver Reggie Davis committed to Georgia on Sunday and left many Gator fans wondering what went wrong with him and Florida.
Back in early February, Davis and fellow Tallahassee Lincoln receiver Taj Williams both sent out a series of tweets suggesting they were UF bound after their teammate — linebacker James Hearns — chose to the Gators.
But weeks passed without a pledge from the pair of prospects, and as Florida began to take other receivers in the months that followed, Davis starting looking elsewhere.
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday night, Davis shed some light on the situation and revealed he hasn’t had a committable offer since former Florida offensive coordinator left to become head coach at Kansas.
“To be honest, Charlie Weis was the coach that offered me from Florida. When he left to go to Kansas, I think my Florida offer left with him. After that, the [Florida coaches] were like ‘Why don’t you come to camp and show the new coaches what you can do?’ But why would I do all of that when I still have a Georgia offer sitting here and they [Florida] have other coaches that know what I can do. Why should I have to go through that when I have a bunch of other schools lined up and waiting for me?”
It’s easy to understand his sentiment, but what’s not so understandable is why Florida wasn’t pursuing Davis.
The answer is simple: Davis did not fit the criteria UF coach Will Muschamp and new offensive coordinator Brent Pease look for in a receiver.
No disrespect to Davis and his talents, as he may very well strive at Georgia, but he doesn’t have the physical makeup the coaches want, which is a wideout that is 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-4, at or near 200 pounds and in the 4.5 40 range.
The average height of UF’s three receiver commits is over 6-2, with Ahmad Fulwood being the tallest (6-4) and Rodney Adams being the shortest (6-1). The average weight is 192 pounds.
Florida’s top five remaining targets all match that criteria: Demarcus Robinson (6-2, 200), Marquez North (6-3, 210), Francis Owusu (6-3, 195), Demorea Stringfellow (6-3, 203), Carlos Burse (6-3, 205).
Davis is 155 pounds and a generous 5-foot-11. Some list him as tall as 6-1, but I’ve seen both him and Rodney Adams in person. They are not the same height.
If a receiver prospect doesn’t meet one or more of Florida’s recruiting requirements, he has to excel in another. For instance, Adams and Stacy Coley are both 6-1 and 175, but they have superb speed and play-making ability. If Coley could improve his academics, the Gators would take him just as they did Adams.
But for someone as small as Davis or Seffner Armwood receiver Alvin Bailey (5-11, 170), they would need to run a sub 4.4 and neither reportedly do. They were given the opportunity to prove it at camp this summer, but both said they wouldn’t run the forty-yash dash because, as Davis mentioned, why should they have to go through that when other schools will take them now.
There will be recruiting cycles where Florida takes a smaller, speedy slot receiver, but 2013 isn’t one of them. The coaches are trying to get bigger at the position and it shows with the wideouts they’ve landed and targeted.
I agree. We have been lacking in size at wide receiever for quite a while now. Even the big guys we have gotten don’t seem to be able to find the field consistently. I have often wondered why everyone else seems to find excellent wide receivers at 6′-2″ to 6′-6″ but Florida always seems to strike out. It is about time we start targeting hard some of those guys and bring them into the Gator fold.— Go Gators
Hope this guys work ethic changes. He sounds lazy. I want players and individuals who are willing to prove day-in and day-out that they are the best.
dang
Sounds like W/M and staff made a good decision on this kid.
Respect the kids decision. Respect every kids decision.
On the Buchanan commitment: Gator fans must face the current reality (and I know this will generate the usual nonsense about my loyalties). The current Ohio State head coach left the Gator football program is deep trouble. The current reality is that for many kids coming out of high school LSU, Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Arkansas and South Carolina are the Top-Tier programs in the SEC. Sadly, UF is chasing these schools, hoping to get back in the race. In college football the very best are drawn to the very best programs. That all may change in the future but it is indeed the CURRENT REALITY!!
My opinion is this kid is looking at his “STAR” status, he figures he’s a 4star athlete thats enough I don’t have to prove anything. Wake up call son, when you get to the UGA, those walk-ons, two star and three star kids will leave you on the bench if you don’t think you have to prove anything to anybody because someone has given you a 4 star rating. Awaken now and maybe you get to actually play when you get to UGA, good luck. You did the right thing if UF coaches stopped recruiting you, but check that attitude.
EMK,
What’s your point?? How do you think those other programs rebounded. Every team that you just named has gone throught the exact same thing in recent years as we are going throught today, and it took many of them MANY MANY years to get back. We won’t be the elite of the SEC this year, but we won’t be bottom feeders either, JMO.
WM has consistantly said that he is building a PROGRAM. I am glad he sticks to the values of the program he is trying to build. I would think less of him if he did not have the backbone to say NO to the guys that dont fit his vision. I have no doubt that this will pay dividends for years to come. Go Gators!
CREEK GATOR: I do not disagree with you. Just trying to stress as W/M has done many times, it is going to take time (what if we don’t win 9 next year), hard work by those involved and some good luck. It can be done but especially in the SEC it is not going to be easy or quick. I am still amazed at the way the current OSU head coach left this program!!
i AGREE WITH YOU AND COACH 100% ON THAT ONE. I ALSO AGREE WITH TEXAS GATOR, THAT’S WHY WE HAD SOME PEOPLE LEAVE THE PROGRAM EARLY AFTER LAST YEARS RECRUITING CLASS, THEY DIDN’T FIT.
No hard feelings towatrds the young man if that’s what he wants to do. We have a good group already in the 2013 class forming and we only need 2, maybe 3 more tops, and there’s a great crop to choose from this year.
@EMK I still don’t get your point. Your first comment was started regarding the Buchanan commitment followed by the fact that the top tier schools in the SEC are USC, Bama, Ark, and LSU. But Buchanan chose probably the WORST school in the SEC right now, Ole Miss. To conclude, his commitment had nothing to do with the fact that Florida is not a top-tier SEC school (which I disagree). The SEC is split into two halves, the top half and the bottom half. At least in terms of recruiting: Bama, LSU, AUB, UGA, Ark, USC, and UF. These teams make it in the top 25 consistently.
Having said that, the Gators do have a lot of work to do. Finding the right players, developing the program, mental toughness, etc. But Buchanan’s commitment had NOTHING to do with us being a top-tier school or not. He chose Ole Miss because he is from Miss and its a good ole’ southern school. He went there because of the different lifestyle.
While I hope the kid does well, just not against UF, especially as a leghumper, I hope he soon learns a very important lesson: If you’re not proving your worth every day, there’s someone behind you who will take your job. Satchel Paige was correct…
I agree with some above posters: wouldn’t you rather a talented kid be confident and motivated enough to WANT to prove himself at every juncture? W/M wants competitors.
On the subject of receivers, I think the writing may be on the wall for JaJuan Story, I swear I haven’t heard a word about him since he arrived. Tevin Westbrook is a prime transfer candidate too, as is Showers (from Mich.) with all the DBs coming in.
Too many kids our staff believes are ahead of Davis and fit the WR position better from a body standpoint. I bet Davis is closer to 5-11 than 6-1 and very skinny. We already have a 6′ to 6’1″ Adams in the fold who’s a speedster and pretty skinny himself. Most know Davis wanted badly be a part of Florida Football. He tried to commit to us in February. It just didn’t work out.
i’m glad this coaching staff has a standard.
Alabama and LSU win with big physical Olines, physical RBs and big receivers. Muschamp is doing what they do–very simple. The finesse spread offense is dead. Players want to play in an NFL scheme–muschamp knows that and has built his offense and coaching staff around the NFL model.
If they want big, physical receivers, why in the hell did they move Omarius Hines to HB?? Or did they move him to TE?? I can’t remember. I thought I read they were giving him touches at FB or RB….
Greg R. after I read your comment I re-read the article twice to see what I had missed. WHAT IN THE H#!! gives you any indication this kid is lazy based on this article? Is it just because he didn’t pursue the Gators when they obviously weren’t pursuing him? That’s just a pretty dumb thing to say.
Florida was talking to this kid about early enrolment, and didn’t have simple common decency to tell the kid that they were going in another direction. All but one of the coaches who were after him are still there. The kid did not disrespect the gator program, but he has to look out for his future give the kid a break.
EMK’s point is that he is a troll and he is trying to lure you into an argument. Go back to the Bama forum EMK.
The lazy comment, I believe, comes from him not being willing to run the 40. If the Gators want bigger WRs, but are willing to take a fast smaller one, why wouldn’t you want to run? The attitude of why run when I can sign somewhere else is either laziness, cockiness, or lack of confidence. We don’t need any of that. If he can’t take 4.5 seconds to prove his worth, what else will he not do?
Well perhaps lazy is not the correct word, but entitled might be. It appears that this player did not want to compete and show his worth at UF when he was not asked to do the same at other schools. This is the same as having to get a certian score for a scolly at UF (academic) while not needing it to go somewhere else.
If you really wanted to go to UF you would take the test and be confident of your ability to impress, if not go somewhere else.
I agree with John S above. We don’t need this type of attitude on our team and really should not tolerate it.
I have seen that kid at all of Florida’s camps last year. If you read the Nike combine article or seen his interview you will see that he did run the 40. This kid seem to be his biggest critic. The coach says he works extremely hard and other schools seem to like his work ethics. He has no problem running the 40. So if you want to make the kid look bad you will have to find another topic. There is a difference between confidence and cocky. Confidence, if you wait for Florida, Cocky if you commit elsewhere.
Reality..florida has two excellent sophomore quarterbacks. The year they become seniors we will get two more excellent QBs..would you want to come in and compete with two great QBs that have 2 full years left???..Only if you like sitting on the bench!!