Florida Gators

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Four-star offensive lineman Rod Johnson (Delray Beach, Fla./American Heritage) has been added to the Under Armour All-America Game roster.

The 6-foot-6, 315-pound Florida commit said he was excited when he found out the news.

"I'm really excited about this opportunity," Johnson said. "I've always wanted to play in this game."

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Four-star defensive end DeMarcus Walker (Jacksonville, Fla./Sandalwood) will take an unofficial visit to Florida this upcoming weekend.

The 6-foot-4, 271-pound ESPN 150 member has been committed to Alabama since Aug. 24, but Walker said taking a trip to Florida has been on his mind for a while.

"It's just been on my mind for a long time," Walker said. "Even though I've already taken a 1,000 visits, I'll just take another one."

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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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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Despite having been committed to Florida since July, three-star Florida wide receiver commit Chris Thompson (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville) is still receiving interest from other programs.

The 5-foot-11, 170-pound athlete said after Gainesville's disappointing loss to Miami Central in the FHSAA class 6A state championship game on Saturday that Marshall and Florida Atlantic continue to recruit him despite his pledge to the Gators.

"I still talk to a couple of them -- like Marshall and FAU," Thompson said. "But I'm still solid to Florida."

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida continued its recruiting hot streak on Saturday, as three-star outside linebacker Jarrad Davis (Kingsland, Ga/Camden Co.) switched his verbal commitment from Auburn to Florida. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound athlete had been committed to Auburn for 10 months prior to the switch.


Davis informed Camden County head coach Jeff Herron this afternoon of his decision to switch to Florida.

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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Three-star linebacker Keith Kelsey Jr. (Gainesville, Fla./Gainesville) has offers from USF, Louisville and Iowa State, but now a few SEC schools are starting to show interest.

The 6-foot-1, 213-pound athlete has scheduled a visit to Louisville and could soon schedule a visit to South Carolina.

"I got Louisville scheduled so far and South Carolina has been recruiting me too, Iowa State and USF has been talking to me too. South Carolina is fixing to offer me. I'd be interested in taking a visit there."

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ORLANDO, Fla. -- With Florida coaches on hand to watch, Gators linebacker commit James Hearns (Tallahassee, Fla./Lincoln) did the Gator chomp as he was introduced before the FHSAA class 7A state championship game on Friday evening. Despite the gesture, Hearns said after the game he still plans to visit Ohio State on Jan. 11.

Hearns, who totaled five tackles in the 41-25 loss to Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas, said he was impressed that Florida sent coaches to watch him play.

"It felt good that they get a chance to come out to see me," Hearns said. "Especially being in bowl week. They actually moved up their bowl practice today just so they could get on the road and get here on time."

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida quarterback Jeff Driskel might be the happiest guy on campus. Not just because of his sudden success this season, but because the Gators are bringing in a plethora of talent for him at wide receiver.


After Florida's leading wide receiver, sophomore Quinton Dunbar, totaled just 306 yards and four touchdowns this year, Florida coach Will Muschamp made it a priority to sign several playmakers at the position.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- This will be a big weekend for Florida recruiting. Not just because Florida is bringing in some key recruits for official visits, but also because the Gators have a few current commits and key targets who are playing for state championships in Orlando.

New wide receiver commit Demarcus Robinson (Fort Valley, Ga./Peach Co.), a four-star prospect, will take his official visit to Florida this weekend. Robinson flipped his commitment from Clemson to Florida on Wednesday, the same day Gators head coach Will Muschamp and assistants Brian White and Joker Phillips made an in-home visit.

With Robinson now in the fold, the headliner of the weekend might be Alex Collins (Plantation, Fla./South Plantation), a former Miami commitment who is officially visiting. The Gators have two four-star running back commitments in Kelvin Taylor (Belle Glades, Fla./Glades Day) and Adam Lane (Winter Haven, Fla./Winter Haven), but Collins is too talented not to recruit.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Gators had a very memorable recruiting weekend. Florida hosted several visitors for their annual football awards banquet. The visitor list was comprised of mostly committed players and several 2014 recruits. But wasn't the visitors that stole the headlines on Sunday.

The biggest news of the weekend came from three prospects that weren't even on campus. Massive 6-foot-8, 340-pound offensive tackle Trenton Brown (Albany, Ga./Georgia Military College), former South Carolina linebacker commit Matt Rolin (Ashburn, Va./Briar Woods) and four-star offensive tackle Rod Johnson (Delray Beach, Fla./American Heritage) gave their pledges to Florida on Sunday.

Brown committed to Florida over Oklahoma and Florida State, Rolin switched his pledge from South Carolina to the Gators and Johnson recommitted to Florida after an in-home visit from Florida offensive line coach Tim Davis.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida has landed it's third commitment of the day, as four-star offensive lineman Rod Johnson (Delray Beach, Fla./American Heritage) recommitted to Florida on Sunday evening. The four-star tackle prospect chose Florida over West Virginia and Florida State.

The 6-foot-6, 315-pound tackle originally committed to Florida early in the recruiting process before opening things back up. After taking a few official visits, Johnson decided to make his pledge to Florida again.

"When I talked to coach [Tim] Davis on my in-home visit," Johson said, "I really had a good time talking with him, just talking to me about the program and getting early playing time. He talked to me about graduating and getting my degree. He kind of left that on my shoulders and left it on my parents' shoulders as well.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The Florida Gators continued their hot streak in recruiting by adding a commitment ESPN 150 linebacker Matt Rolin (Ashburn, Va./Briar Woods) on Sunday afternoon.

The 6-foot-4, 209-pound athlete announced his decision via his Twitter handle @USC_9: "I have officially committed to THE University of #Florida. I will be wearing #9 as I continue to chase my dreams at #Florida #GatorNation."

Rolin later confirmed his commitment to Florida via text message to Recruiting Nation's Kipp Adams.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Massive offensive lineman Trenton Brown (Albany, Ga./Georgia Military College) verbally committed to play for Florida early Sunday morning. Brown, a former Georgia commit, chose Florida over Oklahoma and Florida State.

The 6-foot-8, 340-pound tackle prospect announced his decision via his twitter handle @512_ItsNMe: "Gator Chompin' #GatorNation join me Oh and add me to that #1 recruiting class." Brown later confirmed to RecruitingNation writer Kipp Adams via text message that he had committed.

Brown originally set a decision date for Dec. 19, but decided to go ahead and make his pledge public now and since he is at a prep school, he will be able to sign with Florida on the 19th and enroll at UF in January.

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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida is hosting its annual football banquet this weekend and as usual it will use this time to bring in several recruits. With Florida having a majority of its class already filled, most of the visitors will be committed players or underclassmen.

Linebacker commits Quinton Powell (Daytona Beach, Fla./Mainland) and Daniel McMillian (Jacksonville, Fla./First Coast) have been looking around. Powell wants to take visits to USC and Miami (Fla), while McMillian has visited Ohio State recently. Both players will be officially visiting Florida this weekend. Florida will try and reaffirm McMillian's and Powell's commitments.

Powell said he's excited to be around the other Florida commits.

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