Florida Gators

It’s Rankings Week at GatorNation. Every day we’ll rank some aspect of the Florida football program heading into the 2013 season. Today we’re ranking the top 10 UF freshmen with the chance of making the biggest impact in the fall. On Friday we’ll rank the Gators’ top needs in recruiting for the Class of 2014, as well as give you the top players the Gators are pursuing at those positions.

Freshmen with the best chance of making an impact

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Now that signing day is complete, it's time to dive in to the GatorNation recruiting mailbag and answer the questions you want to know. Because of the amount of questions we’ve received, we won’t be able to get to all of them today, but we encourage you to ask your questions on our Insider fan forum, The Chompions Club.

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Defensive tackle Jay-nard Bostwick (Port Saint Lucie, Fla./Centennial) joined Florida's No. 1-ranked recruiting class on Wednesday morning, making the announcement in a ceremony at his high school. Bostwick picked the Gators over Alabama and Miami.

He is the 27th-ranked player nationally at his position and 286th in the ESPN 300.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- There are just a couple of short weeks remaining until national signing day, and the Florida Gators have met a majority of their recruiting needs. With graduation, transfers and players leaving for the NFL draft, there are a few areas Florida head coach Will Muschamp would still like to shore up.

Key holes to fill

The Gators lost key personnel along the offensive line, wide receiver, linebacker, running back and secondary and are hoping to replenish their talent with junior college transfers and incoming freshmen.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Though Florida has met a majority of its recruiting needs, the Gators are still hosting a group of important prospects this weekend.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- There were some big changes for Florida commits in the final edition of the ESPN 300. The Gators landed 15 players on the list, including 10 in the ESPN 150. With their success on the recruiting front, the Gators moved back into first place in the ESPN class rankings.

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There were reports that ESPN 150 defensive tackle Caleb Brantley (Crescent City, Fla./Crescent City) had recommitted to Florida after backing off his pledge to the Gators on Wednesday.

Those rumors turned out to be false, as Brantley confirmed after the Under Armour All-America game that he is still uncommitted. Brantley said earlier in the week that he was looking to visit Oklahoma, LSU and Alabama, but no visit dates had been set.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- With just a player walk-through Thursday, things were relatively easy in Day 4 of practice at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports. A four-star defensive tackle gave further explanation about his decision to decommit from an SEC school, several players talked about who impressed them the most, and an ESPN 150 safety changed his decision date.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Four-star defensive tackle Caleb Brantley (Crescent City, Fla./Crescent City) decommitted from Florida after the Under Armour All-America Game practice on Wednesday. The 6-foot-4, 305-pound athlete announced his decision via Twitter and later confirmed with ESPN.com.

Brantley, who had been committed to Florida since Jan. 28, declined to comment on his change of heart other than that he was opening things back up and was planning to take his official visits.

Brantley said he was unsure of which schools he intends to visit.

The Gators have 24 verbal commitments in the nation's top-ranked recruiting class, but only one defensive tackle among them: junior college transfer Darious Cummings.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Gators will be well represented at the Under Armour All-America game in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Jan. 4. The game, which will be televised on ESPN at 5 p.m. ET, will feature the top players in the country.

Florida leads all teams with seven players selected to play in the prestigous game. Florida commit Kelvin Taylor, the No. 1-ranked running back in the country, said he has dreamed about playing in this game since he was in the eighth grade.

"Ever since my eighth grade year, in the summertime, I have worked my butt off to get to this point," Taylor said when he was introduced with his Under Armour game jersey. "I feel like if I don't work hard every day, then someone else is going to get better than me. I've been working out so much, even after football practice, I'll come home and work out some more. I'll work at little details just to get better, because that's what it's going to take to get me to the next level. It's the little things you do. I'm just proud of what I've done and God has really blessed me."

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Gators could have as many eight players enroll early and be eligible for for spring football. Three players -- Tyler Moore (Clearwater, Fla./Countryside), Darious Cummings (Titusville, Fla./East Mississippi Community College) and Trenton Brown (Albany, Ga./Georgia Military College) -- have already signed their letters of intent with Florida.

After losing offensive linemen James Wilson and Xavier Nixon to graduation, Florida will get immediate help from Brown and Moore. Brown is expected to compete with D.J. Humphries for playing time at left tackle, while Moore is likely to start off competing with right tackle Chaz Green for playing time.

Defensive tackle Omar Hunter graduates, and Florida could potentially lose Sharrif Floyd and Dominique Easley to the NFL draft in April. Cummings will likely work his way in to Florida's defensive tackle rotation early on next season. He'll battle with Leon Orr, Damien Jacobs, Quinteze Williams and Florida verbal commit Caleb Brantley for playing time next season.

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