A year ago, it was Tyrie Cleveland. The year before that, it was Martez Ivey and CeCe Jefferson. Those were the headliners Jim McElwain managed to snag on signing day in his first two seasons at Florida. With Ivie and Jefferson, it was expected. With Cleveland, it was considered a moderate surprise.
But entering his third National Signing Day, there aren’t many players left on the board who can fill the role of star signee.
Florida’s class currently ranks 19th in the nation, according to 247Sports, and that’s mostly thanks to a large number of three-star talents.
As McElwain will likely say today, the number of stars next to someone’s name often doesn’t matter. Just yesterday, UF offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor and linebacker David Reese — both three-star players — were named Freshman All-Americans by Pro Football Focus.
Nevertheless, McElwain also wouldn’t be opposed to bringing in five-star players. And this season, it seems unlikely that he will.
The only borderline five-star players left in play for Florida are defensive end LaBryan Ray and linebacker Levi Jones. Neither are in-state players — Ray is from Alabama and Jones is from Texas — and both are considered leans to other schools.
That being said, McElwain has been a magician in his first two signing days at Florida, and Ray and Jones can’t be ruled out because of it. Nevertheless, the more likely signing day additions are defensive tackle Tedarrell Slaton and running back Adarius Lemons.
Five recruits are already at UF
National Signing Day is a unique spectacle in the sports world. For one day, it brings fans 24 hours of non-stop excitement, all because high school students are putting pen to paper and signing letters of intent.
But some of Florida’s 2017 class wasn’t interested in being a part of that spectacle, opting instead to enroll this semester, get a head start on classes and participate in Spring practice.
The top recruit among the five who took that route is Kadeem Telfort, a 6-foot-7, 300-pound offensive lineman from Miami.
Telfort is a four-star player who is expected to play tackle at Florida and, with a solid Spring, could contribute right away.
The only other four-star early enrollee is Kemore Gamble, a tight end who’s also from Miami. At 6-foot-4 and 216 pounds, Gamble looks more like a receiver than a tight end. The extra Spring practices and workouts should help him develop enough physically to possibly see the field in 2017, but with the current logjam at tight end, playing time for Gamble seems unlikely.
The remaining three early enrollees are athlete Kadarius Toney, defensive tackle Kyree Campbell and linebacker James Houston. Of the three, Toney is perhaps the most intriguing.
A quarterback in high school who was projected to move to slot receiver in college, Toney will get a shot at quarterback to provide some relief for Kyle Trask and Feleipe Franks, the only two scholarship quarterbacks currently on the roster who will participate in Spring practice.
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
Tyrie Cleveland (89) runs toward the end zone during Florida's 40-14 win over Missouri on Oct. 15, 2016, at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
