Minutes before Jim McElwain walked into Florida’s indoor practice facility for his National Signing Day press conference, the Gators head coach made an announcement on Twitter that caught many by surprise.
Wednesday afternoon, Florida officially announced the addition of Rivals250 wide receiver James Robinson to the 2017 recruiting class. Robinson was long considered a Florida lean, but on Monday it was reported that Robinson wasn’t a take for Florida due to a decision by the UF administration – and that he wouldn’t be announcing his decision on television Wednesday as planned.
Robinson was cited for marijuana possession on Jan. 21 during his official visit to Ohio State. However, after UF did its research on Robinson, the school made the call to allow Robinson to join the class, per McElwain.
“Obviously, as in all players, the important thing is you do your research and your background,” McElwain said. “My guess is there's a few people in this crowd right here that have some regrets on things they've done, and yet at the same time take responsibility for it. Here is the good thing: We get an opportunity to be involved in his life. We get an opportunity to help him move forward, as we do all the players on this team. I'm excited about him being a Gator.”
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Thanks to the addition of Robinson and five other signees on NSD, including four-star running back Adarius Lemons (an announcement McElwain made at his presser), Florida’s recruiting class currently stands at No. 9 in Rivals’ team recruiting rankings with 15 four-stars, seven three-stars and one two-star. Currently, the Gators have 14 of the top 100 players in the state of Florida signed, thanks to Robinson and Lemons joining the mix.
The addition of Robinson, along with fellow 2017 four-star wide receiver signee Daquon Green, gives the Gators a deep pool of options at wideout moving forward.
“I think that adds to that group in the state of Florida that somebody asked about, right? Because he is from Florida,” McElwain quipped about Robinson. “Yeah. Pretty decent guy, yeah.”
As far as the controversy surrounding Robinson’s Ohio State trip and about him as a recruit, McElwain said that there was “a lot of misinformation out there.”
“Somebody I think alluded to about negative reports – it just blows me away sometimes as far as what is actually said and what is real. Yet that's okay. I mean, everybody deals with it," McElwain said.
“You know what? We're excited that we're going to be a big part of helping him, as we do all our players. Note one thing: As soon as you start throwing stones at somebody for making a mistake, look in the mirror and see if you've ever made one yourself. Yet the most important thing is knowing he's going to have a great support system here, as all our players do, to help him be successful and learn from different things that go on. He's committed to that, as are a bunch of guys on our team.”
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