Class Overview: Examining UF's recruiting performance in the 2020 cycle

National Signing Day on Feb. 5 provided plenty of surprise decisions, with a couple of them pertaining to the Florida Gators.

Dan Mullen's staff was confident about Avantae Williams, a top-40 overall senior in the nation, but they were ultimately beat out by Miami for his services.

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The program did miss on several other targets, yet they were able to close the day out on a high note by signing four-star pass rusher Princely Umanmielen.

With all that being said, GatorsTerritory takes a look at Florida's key wins in the 2020 cycle, their misses and a grade for each position group on offense and defense.

Although Florida will most likely finish with the 8th-ranked recruiting class on the Rivals Team Rankings, they were unable to make a big splash during the two key signing days.

During Early Signing Period, the Gators were unable to land any of their targets, which featured Alabama pledge Timothy Smith, Rivals100 DE Donell Harris and wideout Sam Brown. Other notable players who signed elsewhere were defensive tackle Clyde Pinder, legacy target E.J. Smith and four-star OL Marcus Dumervil.

Switching over to National Signing Day on Wednesday, it was nearly a repeat of what happened back on Dec 18.

The day started off with Florence (Al.) ATH Dee Beckwith signing with Tennessee over Florida, which wasn't too much of a surprise since Larry Scott is set to become the new head coach at Howard University.

Then, as expected, Warren Easton Senior products Ashaad Clayton (Colorado) and Sedrick Van Pran (Georgia) stuck with the schools they committed to last year.

But, in the biggest stunner of the day, Avantae Williams signed with the Miami Hurricanes over the Gators. The top-ranked safety on Rivals appeared to be a lock to follow in the footsteps of his cousin, Lorenzo Lingard, and former teammate Dionte Marks.

After Rivals100 APB Jahmyr Gibbs stayed true to his commitment to Georgia Tech, Florida was able to close the day out with some good news.

Later in the afternoon, four-star edge rusher Princely Umanmielen surprised the recruiting world himself by signing with the Gators over Baylor and Texas. The 13th-ranked strong side defensive end in the nation was looking like he was going to stay in the Lone Star State, but chose Florida after being wowed on his official visit to the school last month.

It is certainly true that if some future Gators, such as Derek Wingo, Gervon Dexter and Xzavier Henderson, hadn't been committed prior to putting pen to paper and made their decisions on the signing days, then it changes the perception of UF's ability to close to an extent.

What makes Wednesday different, however, is that Florida isn't guaranteed to have a full class in this cycle now due to all of the above misses. They have signed 23 players thus far, and transfers Jordan Pouncey, Justin Shorter and Lorenzo Lingard will count in their 2020 class.

The program is still waiting on four-star commits Leonard Manuel and Marc Britt to sign their Letters of Intent, so there are three open spots at this juncture.

UF has been trending upward with Mullen at the helm, but they'll need to get to a point in their recruiting where they can consistently land coveted in-state talents like Demarkcus Bowman, Smith and Williams in the future.

There were definitely some misses that will leave a bad taste in the mouths of UF fans, but not all was bad with how the team ultimately finished.

For one, Florida is one of just eight programs to have signed multiple Rivals five-star prospects in this cycle. Mullen's staff sort of evaluated themselves into this accomplishment as Derek Wingo was the No. 150 player overall when he committed in June, and Gervon Dexter wasn't even in the Rivals250 when he committed on Nov. 3, 2018.

Another reason for the Gators to be satisfied with how this cycle ultimately turned out is that their most recent positional coaching hires have paid off well for them.

Defensive line coach David Turner looks the part of a professor at the school, but he recruited at a high level in his first year on the staff. Turner helped put together a d-line class that features Jalen Lee, Johnnie Brown, Lamar Goods and Umanmielen.

He was also instrumental in keeping Dexter on board as the Georgia Bulldogs were making a strong push to flip him during his commitment to the Gators.

The other crucial hire that Mullen's program made last year was bringing back Torrian Gray. The cornerbacks coach assisted in landing Lone Star State targets Avery Helm and Jahari Rogers, along with 'BUCK' prospect Antwaun Powell as he is the area recruiter in Virginia.

The final point I'll touch on in this section is that Florida is starting to establish a dominant presence in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Although it would've been preferable to land some of these players coming out of high school, the Gators are taking full advantage of the portal.

They have added nearly a handful of players via transfers who were five-stars on Rivals when they initially signed their LOIs: Brenton Cox, Justin Shorter, Lorenzo Lingard and Trevon Grimes.

In the past five weeks alone, Lingard and Shorter rewarded them with commitments, which somewhat makes up for the misses they suffered with a few of their 2020 targets.

It still remains to be seen how things will turn out with the transfers they have added recently, but UF has certainly made themselves a destination for players seeking a change in scenery.

Offensive line: I'll reward the Gators with a B when it comes to their recruiting along the offensive line in this cycle. This is mainly due to the fact that Florida was in hot pursuit of players like Marcus Dumervil and Sedrick Van Pran, but were unable to attract them to Gainesville.

Dumervil is a product of the Sunshine State, took multiple trips to the Swamp — including one for an official visit — and is even teammates with a couple of future Gators: Wingo and Tyreak Sapp. Although LSU became a powerhouse this past season, he is the type of player that UF needs to keep in the state in order to fix their woes in the trenches.

As for Van Pran, I won't deduct too many points from John Hevesy and the rest of the staff for missing out on him. Van Pran visited UF just one time, which was the weekend before he signed, so there wasn't a huge expectation that they would flip the Georgia commit.

Florida did end up with a decent OL class that features Gerald Mincey, Joshua Braun, Issiah Walker and Richie Leonard. There is certainly some potential here but, for the second straight cycle, they did not sign an offensive lineman who was in the Rivals250.

Quarterback: Not much to say here that hasn't already been said before.

Florida gets a B+ for signing Anthony Richardson, who is an early enrollee and has already participated in multiple practices with the Gators.

UF gets credit here as he is the sixth-ranked dual threat quarterback in the nation. It is important to note, however, that Richardson is from Gainesville and him winding up at another school was unlikely from the moment he received an offer from Florida.

I'll also point out that it was Mullen and company's initial goal at one time to sign both Richardson and Carson Beck in this class. My process of assigning grades takes into account a miss like this, even though I do believe that Richardson will ultimately be the better player at the next level.

Running Back: Following Early Signing Period, I gave Florida an F for their recruiting at running back, and deservingly so as they did not sign a player at the position during ESP.

With the addition of Lingard, this grade will be elevated to a C- just because of the potential that the former Miami Hurricane had coming out of high school.

Lingard was the second-ranked RB on Rivals, possesses blazing speed and, if he's not dealing with any lingering effects from a knee injury suffered in his first season in Coral Gables, could be a crucial asset for the Gators this season.

Despite Lingard being a solid pickup in the portal, there were just too many misses in the backfield to ignore in this cycle.

Here were the notable targets on UF's radar who chose to go elsewhere: Demarkcus Bowman, Henry Parrish, E.J. Smith, Jahmyr Gibbs and Jo'Quavious Marks.

Unless five-star prospect Zachary Evans chooses Florida over Ole Miss and Tennessee, the Gators will have yet another disappointing finish at running back.

Wide Receiver: For right now, I'll give UF a B+ for their wide receiver recruiting in this cycle, but that could turn into an A- depending on the status of Leonard Manuel.

Florida made up for missing out on Kentron Poitier, Malik Heath and Sam Brown during ESP by adding both Henderson and Shorter the following month.

With Ja'Quavion Fraziars set to arrive in May, the Gators will have at least three incoming pass catchers who check in at 6-foot-4. Manuel measures in at 6-foot-5, so he would be another tall presence for UF's receiving corps.

The Gators will lose four wideouts from last year — Freddie Swain, Josh Hammond, Tyrie Cleveland and Van Jefferson — but did a good job of signing several players who will contribute down the line.

We'll keep monitoring what is going on with Manuel, who intends on signing in April after electing not to make things official on NSD.

Tight End: Florida certainly likes who they have in 2020 signee Jonathan Odom as he blocks like an offensive lineman, but is also a reliable pass catcher and a touchdown threat whenever his team is in the red zone.

With the success of Kyle Pitts this past season, it's no surprise that UF was also pursuing another tight end who can impact the offense in a similar way that Pitts did in 2019.

The Gators struck out on five-star TE Darnell Washington in December, but had their eyes set on top-20 ATH Dee Beckwith this go around.

Florida had reason to be confident about their pursuit of Beckwith as he consistently maintained that the program was at the top of his recruitment and they were the staff recruiting him the hardest.

Ultimately, however, Beckwith winded up joining forces with the Tennessee Volunteers, which rewarded him with the first offer in his recruitment.

The departure of Larry Scott certainly lowered UF's chances, but Tennessee was definitely a school he was always giving a strong look at and was high on his radar before the Gators even became an option for him.

I'll give the program a C- here for reeling in Odom and striking out on the aforementioned targets.

Defensive Tackle: Even with the Gators losing out on Clyde Pinder and Timothy Smith in December, I'm sticking by the A I gave them after ESP.

Smith had always been eyeing the possibility of leaving the Sunshine State to play at the next level, so Florida even being in legitimate contention for his services down the stretch is a testament to the job Turner and company did.

As for Pinder, it was a difficult task for UF as they rewarded him with an offer less than a month before he signed. North Carolina already had him committed for over half a year by that point, and the relationships he manufactured with the staff were a little tough to overcome.

Besides those two misses, you have to be impressed with the recruiting along the interior of the DL by the staff in this cycle.

As mentioned before, Florida held on to Gervon Dexter, who winded up becoming a five-star prospect and was heavily pursued by Georgia. They were also able to keep Johnnie Brown, someone capable of also playing on the edge, on board for nearly a year.

The Gators even saw success out of state by reeling in four-stars Jalen Lee (Watson, Louisiana) and Lamar Goods (Oakdale, Connecticut). After signing just one DT in the previous two cycles, this was an impressive haul for the program.

Strong side defensive end/'BUCK' role: With the addition of Umanmielen on NSD, I'm bumping my previous grade of a C- to a B+.

That's how important of a get Umanmielen was for UF.

First of all, missing out on Umanmielen would have meant that Florida went two straight signing days without signing one target. Although he wasn't coveted like Avantae Williams or Jahmyr Gibbs, signing the four-star DE prevented Wednesday from becoming a total disaster for the coaches.

Secondly, Umanmielen is the type of player who could potentially vie for early playing time when he arrives on campus. You can check out my breakdown of his skill set HERE to see why he was such a productive edge rusher in high school and how he has all the requisite tools to be a force on UF's d-line.

As for the 'BUCK' role, Florida's only addition at the position was Chesapeake (Va.) product Antwaun Powell. They did suffer some misses, such as Donell Harris and Fadil Diggs, but this wasn't a huge position of need for the team due to how well they recruited at the 'BUCK' spot in 2019.

Overall, Umanmielen and Powell were solid pickups for the Gators and will look to wreak havoc for opposing o-lines in the future.

Linebackers: Florida got their top target at linebacker when former Penn State pledge Derek Wingo announced his commitment to the Gators in June.

Since that time, Wingo has gone from the No. 150 player on Rivals to the No. 31 overall prospect, a five-star and the third-ranked inside linebacker in the nation. It's safe to say UF got exactly who they wanted as not only a player on the field, but a leader in the locker room as well.

Sure, they weren't able to land a commitment from Noah Sewell, but keeping him away from Oregon would have been difficult for any program. At outside linebacker, Christian Robinson and the staff could not prevent Phillip Webb from going to the LSU Tigers, but made it in his top three and were in the fight until the very end.

Adding one of those players would have given the Gators an A+ here, but Wingo is an excellent addition, and him and Dexter are the first top-5 Sunshine State prospects to sign with Florida since Chauncey Gardner-Johnson in the 2016 cycle.

For this accomplishment, the Gators get an A from me for their linebacker recruiting in this class.

Cornerbacks: Torrian Gray was hired in January 2019, but immediately started putting in the work as Florida's cornerbacks coach.

By April, he had secured a commitment from then-Rivals250 CB Avery Helm. The Lone Star State product never wavered on his pledge to the Gators, faxed his LOI in December and was reminded of why he signed with the program during his official visit less than a couple of weeks ago.

In June, Gray and company added Fenley Graham and Tre'Vez Johnson to the fold. The program gets bonus points from me here as Johnson was not a well-known name at the time; yet their evaluation of him at a summer camp allowed UF to get ahead of other schools before Johnson's impressive 2019 campaign.

Then, a month later, Florida edged out the in-state Texas Longhorns and SEC East rival Georgia to land Jahari Rogers. Rogers is the 8th-ranked cornerback on Rivals and is the 101st-ranked overall player in the nation after an impressive showing at Under Armour All-America Game Week in early January.

Finally, to put the finishing touches on this class, UF reeled in a commitment from four-star prospect Ethan Pouncey back in December.

As a result, I'll give the group an A- for how it ultimately turned out.

Safeties: I'm going to reduce my original grade of a B+ to a B- here.

Sure, it definitely was impressive that Florida held on to top-200 overall prospect Rashad Torrence for a year. Torrence is tabbed as the 10th-ranked safety in this class, and recorded 122 total tackles (101 solo), an interception and nine pass deflections in his senior season.

It was also a big recruiting victory for them less than a week before ESP as they flipped Tennessee pledge Mordecai McDaniel and signed him the following Wednesday.

But missing out on Avantae Williams, who was a borderline five-star recruit, was the most stunning piece of news in the recruiting world on Wednesday, and deservingly so.

Williams all but seemed to be destined to head to Gainesville, and over a dozen FutureCast predictions were put in for him to wind up a Gator.

With him eliminating Georgia, which seemed to be UF's toughest competitor in this recruitment, Florida appeared to be the clear-cut leader to land Williams.

On NSD, however, Williams pulled a shocker and signed with Miami, a team that went 6-7 this past season.

Now, four-star commit Marc Britt isn't even a lock to wind up in the Swamp as he'll be signing on Feb. 20, and will choose between Florida and Ole Miss.

McDaniel and Torrence definitely have potential to be key contributors in the secondary, but it is definitely a disappointing finish at safety with Williams in Coral Gables and Britt potentially joining the Rebels in a couple of weeks.

Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.