Florida Gators

In this edition of RecruitingNation 411, ESPN's recruiting experts pick out the teams they think need to make a big impression during the final weekend before signing day.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida baseball team stands atop the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll, which debuted Thursday. The Gators, got 17 first-place votes to rank ahead of No. 2 South Carolina with 12 first-place votes. Florida and South Carolina met in last season's College World Series final, in which the Gamecocks won their second consecutive national championship.

The Gators, who are also ranked No. 1 in Baseball America's and Collegiate Baseball's first polls of the season, went 53-19 last year. They open this season on Feb. 17 to begin a home series against No. 25 Cal State-Fullerton.

Head coach Kevin O’Sullivan returns a strong nucleus, including Southeastern Conference Player of the Year C Mike Zunino, senior OF Preston Tucker, slugger Austin Maddox and the entire weekend rotation (Hudson Randall, Brian Johnson and Karsten Whitson).

Edward Aschoff talks about some Florida players who need to have big offseasons.

Our offseason spotlight continues with the Florida Gators:

Spotlight: Defensive end, Ronald Powell, 6-foot-4, 248, rising junior

2011 summary: Powell moved to the Buck position, which is basically a hybrid linebacker/defensive end in Dan Quinn and Will Muschamp's defense. He started 12 games for the Gators, ending the season fourth on the team with nine tackles for loss, and he had a team-high six sacks. He also recorded 32 tackles, three quarterback hurries and a forced fumble.

The skinny: Powell was the No. 1 recruit in the nation two years ago and it seemed as though he'd be a monster pass-rusher for the Gators. But with two seasons under his belt, he has yet to really live up to expectations. He looked much better and a little more active at the Buck position, but there were still times last season when it just didn't look like Powell gave it his all. This defense is built on aggressive play, but Powell had a reputation for taking plays off. Powell should use this offseason to mature more on the field. Powell has tremendous athletic ability, but he doesn't always use it. He has the speed to be dangerous and he should use this offseason to work on being more consistent as a pass-rusher and improving his work ethic. Florida can't afford to have Powell waste his athleticism, and the coaches won't be afraid to bench him if needed. He's also a veteran now and needs to start taking command of this team on and off the field.

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"RecruitingNation" airs at 5:30 p.m. ET today on ESPNU with host Dari Nowkhah and RecruitingNation's Tom Luginbill, Craig Haubert and Jamie Newberg.

RecruitingNation breaks down the top 10 players still undecided, including Dorial Green-Beckham, Davonte Neal, Andrus Peat and Eddie Goldman. The panel discusses why these players are important, where are they are likely to end up, and what it means for the teams that don’t get them.

The show will also feature results from ESPN The Magazine’s "Recruiting Confidential" poll of the top prospects in the nation. Who do the top players think is the nation’s best recruiter? Most over-rated recruiter? And, do they feel like they were being stalked through the recruiting process?

The show wraps up with a look at the top storylines for fans to follow as we count down to Feb. 1, national signing day.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- One way to confirm success in college football is to see your team's players in the discussion for the NFL draft. For Gator fans, that's apparently going to be a short conversation this spring if you go by NFL draft guru Mel Kiper's top five players by position (Insider) or his big board (Insider). Ex-Gator Janoris Jenkins doesn't count.

But next year could be more of the same, as Mel has just one Florida player -- kicker Caleb Sturgis -- on his list of top five returning seniors by position (Insider). That doesn't auger well for UF's chances at gridiron success in 2012.

Re-drafting the 2006 NFL draft class (Insider)
Mel doesn't have a Gator in the first round, but he lists Jaguars DE Jeremy Mincey as a "close call." Quite an accomplishment for a sixth-round pick.

Switching gears (sort of) to the NFL scouting-fest known as the Senior Bowl ...

McShay on Senior Bowl players to watch: Janoris Jenkins
Scouts Inc., analyst Todd McShay says former Florida cornerback Janoris Jenkins will have to do well in interviews and explain his off-the-field issues if he is to be a first- or second-day NFL draft pick.

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Nike is going gray with its new Hyper Elite Platinum college basketball uniform line, and Page 2 contributor Paul Lukas, the only full-time uniform reporter in the sports world, is on the case.

Florida is among the teams that will don the new look for one conference game this season (Tennessee at Florida on Feb. 11).

Check out Paul's story on the new unis as well as a slideshow of Florida's gear, or you can read AP's coverage.

From what Florida needs to close out its class to the latest on No. 1 prospect Mario Edwards to whether FSU can overtake Alabama for the nation’s top class. All that and much, much more.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Bradley Beal stood outside Florida’s locker room after last Saturday’s victory over LSU and pronounced his slump finished.

It was Beal’s third solid game in a row -- he scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds -- since he hit a rough patch after returning from the Christmas break. The 6-foot-3 freshman guard from St. Louis knows he’s still going to have some bad games the rest of the season, but he now has a much better understanding of how he’s supposed to play and adjust his game to the challenges of the Southeastern Conference.

“He’s got a better feel and understanding of when and where shots are coming for him,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “I don’t know if he ever really felt comfortable with that. I think he’s getting better at that. I think he’s understanding when to be aggressive, when not to be aggressive, but he’s not allowing some missed shots or plays that maybe don’t go his way to affect him on the next play.”

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