Friday Night Lights: What we learned
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Although it ended early at about 8 p.m. due to the weather, Florida held its annual Friday Night Lights camp in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. Friday night, the Gators attracted plenty of talented prospects to catch the action and work out during the event. Ultimately, it turned out to be a hectic but successful night in The Swamp - organized chaos if you'd call it that. Here's what we took away from it.
Despite the rain, the enthusiasm was as strong as ever under the lights
You could tell from the camp's start that the new Florida coaching staff was excited to get things started. Jim McElwain motivated the attendees with a loud, passionate speech that one could hear from the middle of the stands at its start. Defensive backs coach Kirk Callahan then led an energetic chant as the campers yelled in unity before stretching. Overall, you could tell the staff was energized and pumped to instruct as position groups rotated during certain drills. The enthusiasm poured into the stands as well, as fans and those related to FNL's participants watched avidly even through on-and-off rain. Ultimately, Florida came out successful Friday night with commitments from three-star center Brett Heggie, three-star defensive back Quincy Lenton and 2017 three-star wide receiver Daquon Green. It seems like the excitement and buzz is back into the program.
This staff can recruit
Despite the rain the Florida staff was able to put together one of the most impressive list of visitors this event has seen in the last several years. The Gators were able to get a trio of 2016 five-stars on campus in Nate Craig-Myers (for the second time this month), athlete Demetris Robertson and defensive end Shavar Manuel. That in itself would be a victory, but the Gators took it a step further with all three seemingly having a great time and Manuel even naming a Shocking top three, which included the Gators. Not only did Florida score big there, but they also had what is likely their top three wide out targets (Binjimen Victor, Sam Bruce, and Cavin Ridley) at the event as well. On top of that Florida was able to get Clemson quarterback commit Zerrick Cooper on campus. The two have been talking over the last couple of months as the Gators are still looking for their signal caller in the 2016 class. Though not all of these targets pulled the trigger while on campus, it was big for the staff to get some more face time with a lot of these prospects, especially after many have taken extensive tours around the country checking out multiple schools over the summer. After several so-so turnouts over the last couple of years the talk was that perhaps this event had outlived its usefulness. That is no longer the case.
Plenty of current Gators came out to show support
Among those in attendance either helping out or just catching the action on the sidelines were Jonathan Bullard, Kelvin Taylor, Fred Johnson, Brian Poole, Brandon Sandifer, Joey Ivie, Jalen Tabor, Alex McCalister, Richerd Desir-Jones, Tyler Jordan, Marcus Maye, Nick Washington, Camrin Knight, C'yontai Lewis, T.J. McCoy, Jarrad Davis and Antonio Morrison. Ivie spent a good deal of time speaking with Craig-Myers, who played with Ivie as a freshman at Pasco High School before transferring to Tampa Catholic. Many of the current Gators offensive linemen spent time speaking with Heggie on the sideline before the highly sought after lineman pulled the trigger for the Gators later on in the night. The presence of the Gators players was also felt on the video boards, as highlights from the spring game and past seasons were played frequently. Roderick Johnson, whose career ended due to a spinal condition this spring, was active in a student-assistant role, demonstrating drills to the youngsters and showcasing passion in a coaching role.
2017 class could be good to Gators
Florida was able to land a commitment from three-star Daquon Green on Friday, which was the lone commitment from the 2017 class on the night. Already Florida has a commitment from three-star wide receiver and Rivals100 quarterback Jake Allen. A majority of the action on the field Friday night was from the 2017 class coming out to compete on the field. Florida had Rivals100 wide receiver James Robinson out making big plays all night, hauling in multiple big grabs. The Gators are also the top school for Rivals250 offensive tackle Kai-Leon Herbert, who made his second visit to UF of the week when he stopped by Friday. The Gators were a bit behind the eight ball with many of the 2016 class, but 2017 could really be this staff's year as they have already gotten off to a hot start to kick off that class. The 2017 class is also very talented in areas that have been very kind to UF in the past.
One more on the way?
The biggest surprise of the night was Hoover (Ala.) linebacker Jeremiah Moon leaving the Florida campus without publicly committing Friday night. There had been buzz all week about Moon pulling the trigger while on campus, and that buzz grew even stronger on the day of FNL. However at the end of the night Moon and his camp left the Swamp as the last prospect to leave, and told media they are uncommitted and will think about things going forward. Though he remains uncommitted now it's still a very strong possibility for Moon to commit to UF eventually. Heading into the visit Moon stated he wanted to make a decision before his senior season, so the Gators may not have wait much longer to reel this one in.
[RELATED: Alderman with the latest on Moon]
Blake Alderman and Landon Watnick contributed to this report