Jim McElwain strolled into his scheduled press conference 10 minutes late, passing through a tunnel of streamer-waving fans and strutting to the Florida fight song.
As he made his way to the lectern, he sported a smile. He joked with reporters. He greeted the assembled UF cheerleaders along with Albert and Alberta.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am for the day,” he said when he finally got to the microphone, “how excited we are as a program, how happy I am for the guys who chose to be Gators.”
He was late because minutes earlier he’d staged a National Signing Day surprise that stunned fans and reporters alike: snagging four-star wideout James Robinson despite reports that he wouldn’t be allowed to enroll at Florida.
Even without Robinson, though, McElwain had already made a signing day statement, picking up signatures from four new players on Wednesday, including two of UF’s top three commits.
Robinson, however, along with the subsequent signing of three-star running back Adarius Lemons, punctuated a signing day vault that catapulted the Gators from the nation’s No. 19 recruiting class to No. 10, according to 247Sports.
The recruiting coup came after McElwain took heat from many Florida fans for his alleged inability to bring in quality prospects, which he addressed.
“I have people in the office that say, ‘Mac, you’re taking shots from all over the place,” he quipped. “We get a kick out of it, too.”
He added that the players he signed — in this class and in past classes — may not have five stars, but he knows he can work with them.
“Did we get every single guy?” he asked. “No.”
“Did we get a lot of them that maybe some other people weren’t recruiting as highly or whatever but we actually had them ranked where we had them ranked in our evaluation? “
“Yeah, absolutely.”
Besides Robinson, an explosive 6-foot-4 receiver who can play right away, the Gators’ biggest commit of the day — in a literal and figurative sense — was 6-foot-4, 360-pound defensive tackle Tedarrell Slaton. Slaton was ranked as the 69th-best player in the country by 247Sports and remains UF’s top commit of the 2017 cycle.
In addition, UF staged another moderate surprise by signing Miami Columbus four-star cornerback CJ Henderson, who was thought to be leaning toward Miami. Henderson’s signing addressed a position of need for the Gators, who lost three starting defensive backs to the NFL Draft. And he wasn’t the only one.
Florida also picked up a commitment from three-star DB Brian Edwards, who joined four-stars Marco Wilson and Brad Stewart and three-stars Shawn Davis and Donovan Stiner to complete a strong class of defensive backs.
“We weren’t just trying to fill it with bodies,” McElwain said of the DB class. “We got some quality. That’s what’s exciting.”
The Gators also addressed their body drought at defensive tackle, picking up four-star Elijah Conliffe in addition to Slaton and early enrollee Kyree Campbell.
As far as surprises, Robinson and Henderson were the main two. Other commitments of the day came from two-star linebacker Lacedrick Brunson and Lemons, who McElwain found out about mid-sentence during his press conference.
In total, Florida signed 23 commits on Wednesday including early enrollees, though McElwain hinted that more might be coming. He also took one last parting shot at his critics before leaving.
“If you don’t mind, I think we’ll go enjoy a nice evening of celebration with a great class,” he said. “What was it, a strong finish? Is that what it was?”
Contact Ethan Bauer at ebauer@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @ebaueri.
UF coach Jim McElwain discusses his 2016 recruiting class on Feb. 3, 2016, during a press conference at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
