National Signing Day-Updated LOI's

[travisduncan]

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Here is a running list of the Letter of Intents that the University of Florida football program has received today from recruits for the 2012 class:

Raphael Andrades is a new name on the Gators recruiting scene which was not expected. The 6-0 WR is from Lincoln High in Tallahassee. He had offers from Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois and Notre Dame.

The Gators also picked up signing from a recruit previously committed to Florida State, defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. out of St. Petersburg. Fowler is ranked as a Top 5 player at his position and a Top 100 if not Top 50 recruit overall. At UF he is expected to play the BUCK LB position.

A lot of attention for the rest of the day will be towards offensive tackle Avery Young who a top offensive tackle out of Palm Beach Gardens. He'll make his announcement live today at 2 p.m. ET on ESPNU. He is choosing between the Gators, UGa, Auburn and Miami.

Six student-athletes have already enrolled at UF and will be available to participate in Spring Practice: OT D.J. Humphries, OG Jessamen Dunker, WR Latroy Pittman, DT Damien Jacobs, LB Antonio Morrison and DB Willie Bailey, as reported by the Palm Beach Post.

Among the so-called misses for the Gators will be CB Tracy Howard out of Miramar, FL who signed with Miami over the Gators.

National Letter of Intent Feb. 1 2012:

Raphael Andrades, WR

Jonathan Bullard DL

Brian Cox Jr. DL

Dante Fowler Jr.

Austin Hardin K

Alex McCalister DLS

JaFar Mann DL

Marcus Maye S

Sklyer Mornhinweg QB

Dante Phillips DL

Brian Poole DB

Jeremi Powell LB

Kent Taylor TE

Colin Thompson TE

Quinteze Williams DL

 

[DRU2012]

My own "Overview/Reaction" to what we've seen, as of late afternoon NSD, travis:

Good thing we picked up Andrades, unexpected as that was--'cause our biggest disappointment thus far in my view has been losing Agholor, a 5-star WR we have been supposedly "solidly in front" with for some time...I had a shaky feeling about this one, just something in the back of my mind--maybe it was how badly we NEEDED at least ONE (and really more than one) hot WR coming in, and knowing nothing was at all certain (and still ISN'T) with the other one, Diggs (a bit of a drama-queen, with that won't-announce-'til-next-week-thing happening). I preferred Agholor of the 2 because of the uncertainties, and now we pretty well HAVE to get Diggs to be OK at WR (though losing Agholor could give us a better chance of him choosing us, ironically enough). Nonetheless, losing Agholor AND Williams to USC (and their explosive celebration at each) was deflating.
The other letdown/bummer was Tracy Howard, top-rated 5-star cornerback, going to Miami...can't help but chalk that up to the pending sanctions coming to Miami getting "lost in the background" while the NCAA does their foot-dragging, we'll-get-around-to-it-in-our-own-sweet-time approach to investigation, deliberation and punishment (Hell--they STILL haven't even dropped the other shoe on the whole Newton-fiasco at Auburn). As it is, Miami moves into the "experts' Top Ten" with that pick-up at our expense.
Then again, who knows? The Trojans are operating with some of those same restrictions already in effect and they were able to reach right across the whole continent into our backyard. They're LOADED already at WR, so maybe Barkley's return played a part in Agholor's decision; doesn't explain Williams, though.
It's NOT that this makes us in the "experts" eyes a #4-rated class, instead of "challenging for #1"--as we should know by our own recent experiences, that sort of thing means practically nothing in the long run; the big thing is getting the right guys, the right fit with your team and program, all those issues beyond talent, of character and self-discipline, that give us AND them the best chance for long range success--something we won't really know for at least 2 years, regardless.
No, it's that we lost out in particular with at least a couple of really good ones at "positions of need", WR and CB, when we had the inside track with each. These players really HAD a chance to play here in 2012, so you gotta wonder how and why we got "beat at the wire".
Meanwhile, we DID "win one back" by last-minute flipping Dante Fowler from FSU to us...and though I doubt it'll happen, we ARE still in the mix for Harvey-Clemons as of this writing (you've heard the story, his grandfather/guardian who must sign his letter-of-intent wants him to be a Gator).
All in all, it's a fine class, lots of potential to help make and keep us steadily stronger on our road back to the top of the SEC--and it isn't over yet. Let's see first how everything shakes out in a week or two when all the letters-of-intent are in, academic credentials are submitted and accepted (or not, as does inevitably happen all over the country at major college programs), and we, like everyone else, can turn our attention to spring practice where, as things stand, we still have some unanswered questions regarding offensive playmakers--RB and WR (and Diggs can go a long way to addressing the last: I may have reservations regarding his antics, but there is no question of his amazing talent--he could be that slot-guy that takes pitches, too...However, a BUNCH of schools continue to press this kid hard, so our long-time leadership for his supposed preference doesn't necessarily mean that much).