GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- There is no question Florida had a productive wide receiver room in 2019.
The Gators had eight 300-passing yard games in a season for the first time since 2001 - although a lot of that success can be placed on Kyle Trask's arm, much of that success was due to the talent of the senior receiver class.
This year Florida had four Gators with over 35 receptions in a season for the first time since 2003, and for the first time since 2008, the Gators had three players with five-plus touchdown receptions.
The bad news is a lot of that production is graduating.
"Knowing that we're losing like four or five seniors, right, it's just surreal, man," said running back Lamical Perine. "Those guys came in together, and they had to fight through adversity. They had to learn to play with each other, get chemistry with each other. So it was just the same thing with those guys. They've got to do the same thing."
Veterans like Van Jefferson, Freddie Swain, Josh Hammond and Tyrie Cleveland are all gone but Florida does have talented receivers returning.
The Gators are returning experienced receivers in Trevon Grimes and Jacob Copeland - at the time of publishing UF is still awaiting the final word on whether or not Kadarius Toney will return next season.
Grimes announced his return earlier this month and it was great news for Dan Mullen and his side. The South Florida native is a physical playmaker that can make some big time plays - snatching 23 first down reception on 33 catches.
Meanwhile, Copeland showed plenty of progress in 2019 in learning the playbook and just becoming more comfortable in the offense. The redshirt freshman had a coming out party of sorts against South Carolina this season, when he caught three balls for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Florida is also returning Rick Wells, who has spent most of his time on special teams but could see an uptick in catches in 2020.
However, several eyes are on the redshirt freshmen, who have used this season to learn from the senior veterans.
"They're doing really, really well in their development," said Mullen. "I'm excited about the futures all three of them have. I think they have a chance to be really especially players. It was good to have a couple of developmental practices for them. And I'm really excited to see the steps that they take heading into spring ball.
"I've seen a lot of from those guys," said Jefferson. "I think the one thing I've seen from them is that they have all gotten stronger. Nick Savage and them been putting time in the weight room. Ja'Markis [Weston] is a very fast guy . Dionte [Marks] is a quick guy and Trent [Whittemore] catches everything. I think those three guys are going to be very good next year and are going to have a great year for the Gators next year. I think they have learned a lot from the seniors, just watching how we go about practice and watching what we do in games. I think they are going to benefit from that next year."
"Dionte Marks, Ja'Markis Weston, those two guys are going to be great receivers for us in the future. And Trent Whittemore. He's a great guy," added Perine. "Trent can catch the ball, possession catch. He's more like, who would I say, like a Julian Edelman type guy. And Dionte Marks is super fast, can do whatever, man. Just going to be a great kick returner for us, punt returner. Ja'Markis Weston is probably the fastest guy on the team, at 230 can run a 4.4, 4.3, great athlete."
Florida has also signed Ja'Quavion Fraziars to the roster this winter, as well as transfer receiver Jordan Pouncey. Florida also picked up a commitment from Xzavier Henderson this past month and still has Leonard Manuel committed to the program, and the Gators could even add one more transfer before their work has concluded. Florida remains in contact with potential transfer Justin Shorter and is seen as the team trending to land the former Penn State playmaker.
"It's a position that we're looking at the balance of the roster, we knew this was going to come," said Mullen after Early Signing Day. "So we were heavy. We over-signed. So as you balance a roster, we were plus one at the receiver position -- this season, on how we balance our roster out. And so we lose -- so we really lose four, but off the roster depth you're down three and we signed two. So there's still another spot that we'd look to address that moving forward."
Although one should expect some drop off in the position, having an experienced tight end in Kyle Pitts will help lighten the load. There is a lot of potential for this wide receiver group.
