Since the decommitment of Miami Central’s Dalvin Cook on New Year’s Eve, the Florida football coaches have been searching high and low for a quality running back to replace him.
On Friday, they got their guy.
Miami pledge Brandon Powell flipped to the Gators according to his head coach at Deerfield Beach, Allen Jackson.
“He is a Gator,” Jackson informed The Sun through text message.
Powell, a member of the Rivals250 and ESPN300, made his initial commitment to Tennessee in the summer and then switched to Miami in August. In addition to those schools, he also officially visited Nebraska and West Virginia.
But UF was always Powell’s first choice and dream school, Jackson said, and an offer from coach Will Muschamp on Wednesday threw a wrench into his plans to enroll early at UM.
After talking things over with his family Thursday night, Powell decided to attend Florida and reported to campus Friday.
The 5-foot-9, 172-pounder was named Broward County’s Class 8A-7A-6A Player of the Year in 2013. He rushed for 1,339 yards and 20 touchdowns on 141 carries as a senior, finishing with the second-most rushing yards among Class 8A running backs in Broward County.
He also had 21 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns, as well as 452 yards and one touchdown on kick and punt returns.
The Gators now have 21 members and nine early enrollees in their class with the addition of Powell, who is the third 2014 recruit to flip to UF during early enrollment this week.
Below are Powell’s junior highlights:
[youtube 4wFVkEena6w 580]
awesome.. I hope he turns into a star.
seems like a nice pick up. Still holding out for Scott or Jeff Jones to join him. Jones is my favorite.
Zach do you know if any head way was made with Scott, Jones or Bo.
Where are all the haters at now? T-Rob is a closer. #GatorNation
Is there a realistic chance for Treon Harris? He is the most underrated player out there. He is the best player on the high school national champs and was an absolute terror when he played other teams that were also highly ranked. The game against Miami Central, who are also pretty good as state champs in their class, he was like a man against boys. He could be scary in a spread offense.
Good that he can return punts, we need that badly.
Great addition and should compliment our current stable of backs with his blazing speed!
I think AU will have a strong shot with Harris. The guy who would be a great steal from FSU would be CJ Worton. Excellent slot WR perfect for the spread offense.
This is a great addition! He has speed and a real natural ability to find the pocket and makes the cuts really fast. He kinda reminds me of Harvin when I see him on the outside….
Will be the jewel of the class…sooner or later.
I wonder if Worton might go to UCF since his brother has one more year to play there.
Powell must have missed the memo that the sky was falling…. Welcome!
Go Gators. Win or lose.
Man Muschamp sure sucks at recruiting.. I’m sure most of the whiners will find some way to spin this…
Doesn’t look like he has blazing speed and he needs to put on some weight, but he looks like he has good instincts…he cuts well….and he knows how to follow a blocker. Given our current stable, he will probably redshirt and spend the next year putting on some weight. He looks good though….I’m already excited for next year.
That is a great plan B- or C player . He could contribute one day. I hope it takes the sting off from the ” Great Cook ” It is better when both the Natl Champs and Gator fans get a long and distribute the wealth. Hope we are doing OK as your ” little brother”
Smallish, not an every down back, but a very quick guy who can attack the edge and return KO’s and punts, and we need that with Debose in his last season at UF.
No, you actually suck pretty hard as a little brother, but thanks for asking.
You guys need to knock off the “haters” vitriol and quit calling everybody fair weather fans. We’re just as much Gator fans as you “pumpers” are.
From my standpoint, the criticism is quite valid. Now, if you are willing to defend last year’s debacle, for any reason, then I’d say you are delusional – but you can still be fans too!
Just to recap, in a single, forgettable year, we managed to have our first losing season in 35 years, break the longest consecutive bowl streak in the country at 22 years, lose to Vandy in Gainesville for the first time since WWII, lose to a Division II team for the first time ever and oh yeah, finished for the 3rd straight year with an offense ranked in the 100s. Those results are not defendable.
We’re all Gator fans on here and it is OK, even normal, to be disappointed in last year’s pathetic results – literally the worst Gator football year in the modern era – and still be in love with UF and bleed orange and blue.
Of course we all want to see us bounce back in 2014. But last year was terrible and there’s no getting around that.
Doug, that really hurts . What did I say here to upset? We know we are the little brother but we are equal in football stuff now. Yes you have more wins in the series. So that should make you feel proud. Did you enjoy those games in the 50’s when FSU was playing with basically a JV squad? You sure took it to us though. Big wins in the 50’s and 60’s…
Don’t get upset at James fellas; he graduated 4th in his class majoring in 3-ring circus management at the 91st ranked institution.
Hey, hey fellas. Try not to go in too hard on ol’ J-Fish. After all-I heard he was the valedictorian of his summer school class…GO GATORS!!
Little Jimmy: you don’t upset us, you bore us with your grade school posts and smug taunts. Small minds produce small things.
Go Gators. Win or lose.
J. Fish = TROLL. Don’t feed the troll.
Reminds me of another Brandon that contributed quite a lot to the program, B. James.
Fischer, go away. Take your wannabe nonsense somewhere it is appreciated (is there really anywhere like that?). When you play in a real conference, let us know.
Everytime a kid flips from Florida to Florida St., the Nole Nation gets all excited and thinks they’ve out recruited us again; have you ever considered the reason these kids flip and transfer to other programs is they have little to no future seeing much playing time at their current school? Dalvin Cook would have rode the pine for a couple years; the Gators have a full stable of running backs, and will pick up more. Plus Cook is only a 4 star, which means middle of the road. Star ratings are useless anyway, the coaches don’t recruit based on stars. Florida St. has top 5-10 recruiting classes every year, but that hasn’t translated to success on the field, just look at their last 13 year history.
Do these EE count back to last year? How many more can we take?
James why do you come on hear!!! Don’t you have a family
Gator fans would have given up their first born to get Dalvin . By the way he will wear # 4 so that when he gets loose you will be able to remember the number. Love the friendly banter. I think Gator fans are the most informative and classy fans in the SEC.
Not sure you guys have flipped one to UF this year ??? The TE that you guys picked up was told he wouldn’t fit in the plan so Jimbo turned him loose.
Nice to have a student/athlete who wants to be at Florida, rather than someone who obviously felt he wanted to be somewhere else (Cook). Welcome to Gainesville!
Fischer, are you really that thick skulled? To away – no one wants to hear your nonsense. You are either not paying attention or just don’t understand. I guess that comes with the “UFS” education”… Just go back to your room.
The power of having a full coaching staff…..PRICELESS!! Go Gators!
Yes, celebrate now. You are the kings of recruiting, funny how you had higher ranked classes overall than everyone on your schedule last year. Really worked well, huh? When September comes it will be time to wake up when you see Driskel taking snaps as your quarterback. Goodluck making it to double digits on offense with everyone’s all-american, Jeff Driskel.
James Fisher….is that the best moniker you can come up with? It’s a huge lol for us, so please keep posting proof of your ignorance…… And, ntcrze, your moniker is so “inside” as to be unfathomable…lol. Yeah, we had a higher ranked recruiting class last year than anyone we played (including you) but when you lose 10 starters for the season and several other key contributors for weeks at a time, it makes it difficult. Last year was an aberration. We’ll be back to slapping you guys around in short order…
When Winston’s accuser comes forth with her Civil suit against FSU, Tally PD, and Winston himself these recruits are going to regret their choice of going to FSU. It’s sad all around but I would imagine that “probation” could be on the horizon.
Go GatorJ, Are you crazy? I like ribbing the other guy, but you need to make some sense.
The judicial system has spoken and King Jameis is fine. This is college guys . Boys will be boys. Y’all been there.the recruits support Jameis unconditionally.
And your moniker I guess is Bull Shf j gator. Don’t make fun of my name dude, that pisses me off
Funny. FSU fair weather fans have called for their coaches head for years and have failed to fill their stadium for 10 years+ yet when they have a fluke season, they cant control themselves. They have had their feelings so hurt over the last several years that a win throws them over the top. I am surprised they didnt tear down their goal posts. The NC game had them crying all the way into the 4th qtr. If not for a blown coverage on a kickoff return, the SEC wins its 8th NC. We will soon regroup and reown Ron Zook stadium in tally….
Champ is a Chump
Gatorjam is a wannabe.
http://gamedayr.com/sports/calculated-risk-retaining-will-muschamp-94390/#
[…] Florida’s offense received a boost Friday morning when athlete Brandon Powell from Deerfield Beach (Fla.) High School switched his commitment from Miami to Florida. […]