Florida hitting the recruiting trail in force this week

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There's no question that it's been a bumpy ride thus far in the 2015 recruiting cycle for Florida. The Gators are currently ranked 74th on the Rivals.com football team recruiting rankings with nine commitments and plenty of spots still left to fill. With the Will Muschamp era now in the rear view mirror the Gators will look to pick up the pieces, find their new head coach, and salvage this recruiting class over the next two months.

That will begin on Monday as the Florida coaching staff hits the road in earnest to get as much facetime with targets as possible before a month long dead period begins in two weeks.

This week all nine assistant coaches along with Director of Player Personnel Drew Hughes will be hitting the road to see a ton of top prospects around the state of Florida and Georgia. With a new coach yet to be named, the Gator assistants will look to test the waters with some of their current uncommitted targets as well as former targets that committed elsewhere due to the uncertainty of Muschamp's job status.

The trio of defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin, defensive line coach Brad Lawing, and defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson will be teaming up quite a few times this week on visits. The trio will visit both in-state five star defensive end's CeCe Jefferson and Byron Cowart this week as well as Jacksonville (Fla.) Trinity Christian teammates Jeffery Holland and Kendrick Norton. The Gators were the team to beat for all four of these prospects before the season and purpose of these visits from the coaches is to sooth over any concerns they may have now that the change has taken place.

As of today, I still feel a solid hire will pull Jefferson, Holland, and Norton back into the fold, but watch out for FSU and Cowart. The Rivals100 end visited the Seminoles this past weekend for the game against the Gators and has been very high on them since news broke of Muschamp's firing.

How this long time Florida fan feels about the new hire and whether or not Lawing is retained will go a long ways toward his feelings about the Gators going forward.

Durkin and Robinson will also spend some time on the trail together in South Florida. They are expected to visit Miami commit Jaquan Johnson, Notre Dame commit Tevon Coney, and Rivals100 safety Tim Irvin. If Robinson is retained by the new head coach, Irvin is still very much a possibility for the Gators. On the other hand, Johnson has seemed solid in his commitment to Miami, but if there is a school that could get him to take a visit, I think it would be Florida. Coney committed to Notre Dame a few months ago, but was very high on Florida before ending his recruitment.

Durkin will also spend some time in Georgia during his busy week as he is expected to visit four-star linebacker, former Florida commit, Adonis Thomas as well as Rivals100 linebacker Roquan Smith. Alabama seems to be the team to beat for Thomas, while the in-state Georgia Bulldogs seems to be where Smith is leaning towards. Both really seem like long shots for Florida at this time, as both really loved Muschamp and his defensive scheme.

Coach Robinson will do most of his recruiting in South Florida and is expected to drop by Booker T. Washington high school to see wide receiver Antonio Callaway and safety DaVante Davis as well as Monarch high school to see Alabama commitments Shawn Burgess-Becker and Calvin Ridley. Robinson also will check out three-star Ohio State commitment Carlton Davis, who seems to be a very soft verbal to the Buckeyes.

Lawing will be in the Carolina's this week to see a few targets, including running backs Nyheim Hines, Bryce Love and Johnny Frasier. While all three remain targets, none of them really seem to be leaning towards UF as Frasier is committed to FSU, but also looking at N.C. State. Love is leaning towards Tennessee and Hines seems like he will be staying in-state to attend N.C. State. Lawing will also stop by to see three-star cornerback Mike Hughes, who is being recruiting as an athlete by the Gators.

With the Gators needing to add some beef up front to their offensive line down the road there's no question that offensive line coach Mike Summers has some of the most important stops this week for the Gators. The top target he will be seeing this week is five-star offensive tackle Martez Ivey. The Gators and the Auburn Tigers are the teams to beat for the Rivals100 big man and he also has LSU and Florida State on the outside looking in as well. Summers will also stop by to see South Carolina commitment Christian Pellage, Clemson commit Jake Fruhmorgen and Florida State commitment Abdul Bello this week. Summers will also stop by Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy to visit various prospects such as Miami commit Tyree St. Louis and recent Nebraska decommitment Mirko Jurkovic Jr. Also before the week is over Summers will also see UF commits George Brown, Michael Horton and Brandon Sandifer.

Florida assistant Coleman Hutzler will bounce between Florida and Georgia this week. He will accompany Coach Summers to Apopka to see Ivey and also will see 2016 UF commit Chauncey Gardner in the Sunshine State this week as well. In the Peach State Hutzler will see Auburn commit Kaleb Kim, three-star cornerback Darius Slayton, three-star cornerback Jeremy McDuffie, and Tennessee cornerback commit Micah Abernathy. Another interesting name Hutzler is expected to see this week is 2016 Rivals250 defensive end Patrick Bethel, who has visited UF a few times this season.

Offensive Coordinator Kurt Roper will bounce around to a few locations this week with his two most important visits on the West Coast where he will see four-star UF commit Sheriron Jones and JUCO wide receiver Isaac Whitney. Roper will also accompany Summers to IMG Academy and Robinson to American Heritage High School in South Florida. Another name Roper is expected to see this week is Louisville quarterback commit Lamar Jackson.

Running backs coach Brian White also has a few important stops this week as UF continues to search for a running back in the 2015 class. He will see five-star Damien Harris this week as well as Miami commits Dexter Williams and Jordan Scarlett, along with Clemson commit Ray-Ray McCloud III and Florida State commit Jacques Patrick. Another FSU commit White will see this week is Rivals100 wide receiver George Campbell.

Wide receivers coach Chris Leak will start his week off in the Tampa area seeing Rivals250 wide receiver Ryan Davis as well as Florida State commitment Auden Tate and Maryland commitment Jahrvis Davenport. Leak will accompany White to West Orange high school this week and also will stop by Dr. Phillips as well. Leak will also spend some time in the Tennessee area this week to see Georgia commit Van Jefferson as well as Rivals250 defensive end Kyle Phillips and three-star running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn.

Tight end's coach Derek Lewis will bounce between Florida and his home state of Louisiana this week. He is expected to visit Florida commits Camrin Knight and Kalif Jackson and three-star athlete Javarius Davis in North Florida this week and also will see 2016 prospects Nate Craig and Jacob Mathis. While in Louisiana Lewis is expected to see Florida commit Derrick Dillon and Rivals250 wide receiver Kirk Merritt.

As stated above director of player personnel Drew Hughes will be on the road recruiting this week. He will spend some time in the panhandle area and will see Alabama commitment Ronnie Harrison, Auburn commit D'Anfernee McGriff, and 2016 prospects Feleipe Franks, Keith Gavin, and Elijah Stove. Hughes will also see 2016 commitment Tyler Byrd, 2015 Iowa commit Karan Higdon, and Arkansas commitment Derrick Graham this week as well in Florida as well. Another big visit Hughes will make is to JUCO offensive tackle Martinas Rankin, who is contemplating and official visit to UF sometime in the future. Look for Hughes to also see 2015 South Carolina commit Octavis Jackson and 2016 UGA commit Chauncey Manac at Clinch County high school in Georgia as well.