New kid in town: Getting to know incoming freshman WR Trent Whittemore

As reported on Monday by Gators Territory beat reporter Jacquie Franciulli, four Florida Gators incoming freshmen have enrolled in Summer A term.

Cornerback Kaiir Elam (Benjamin School - Palm Beach Gardens, FL), defensive end Khris Bogle (Cardinal Gibbons - Fort Lauderdale, FL), defensive end Lloyd Summerall (Lakeland HS - Lakeland, FL), and athlete Trent Whittemore (Buchholz HS - Gainesville, FL) have made their way to the University in order to begin school before their first season in orange and blue.

With that being said, let's get to know each Baby Gator and what role they will be serving with the team in the immediate future. We've profiled Kaiir Elam, Khris Bogle, and Lloyd Summerall already. Now let's check out athlete Trent Whittemore.

Whittemore played high school ball a mere 15 minutes from The Swamp at Buchholz High School. His father, Mark, is the head coach at BHS.

The 6-3, 190 lb. athlete follows the trend of the three previously profiled enrollees: He's lengthy. And he pairs that length with a 34" vertical, according to his HUDL account. That type of size and vertical ability makes Whittemore an intriguing prospect to develop as an X-WR.

Whittemore played all over the field in high school, mainly at receiver and free safety but also occasionally at cornerback, tight end, and even quarterback. His knowledge of not one, not two, but five positions is a product of the "coach's son" label as well as his football intelligence.

Oh, and he was a punter as well. So six positions, really.

Max Preps has Whittemore down for 93 receptions, 1374 yards, and 17 touchdowns in three varsity seasons at BHS. Pair this with 94 carries, 543 yards, and three touchdowns on the run, and completing 76/150 passing attempts for 1026 yards, 12 touchdowns and eiht interceptions. Dare we call Trent Whittemore an offensive weapon?

Defensively, Whittemore recorded 196 total tackles, including seven for loss. Plus seven interceptions, 28 defended passes, and a forced fumble on the back end of the defense.

The stat you've been waiting for: Whittemore tallied 11 punts, averaging 28.6 yards per punt and a long of 50 yards.

Now, all of this background info is cool, but Florida views Whittemore as a receiver at the next level, with length and vertical skills to become a pass game weapon. Let's check out his film at receiver and see what he has to offer the Gators.

Whittemore pulls off a stutter double move here to prevent a shove from the linebacker who works his way to the flats. This doesn't throw the deep-third zone cornerback off, so when targeted Whittemore utilizes his vertical ability to high-point the ball and win the route.

Despite his hips not being overly fluid and that he doesn't possess track-star speed to separate from man coverage, Whittemore is physical at the line of scrimmage to beat his jam and has nimble feet to open the cornerback up outside.

While hip fluidity is something he will need to improve to separate against higher competition, his physicality and solid footwork are good traits to have to grow upon as a man coverage-beater.

Whittemore's all-around length lets him open his routes vertically with long strides to cover ground quicker than his natural speed would typically allow, and once again he puts solid footwork on display on a route where hip fluidity is preferred.

He gets his feet underneath him quickly to chop and make a quick cut outside to the boundary to maintain separation off of the zone coverage cushion. He ends this route with an impressive, toe-tapping catch.

Opening at an angle on deep routes is where Whittemore needs to improve with his hips. His cushion from the deep safety is about non-existent before he begins to cut outside in his corner route, which allows the safety to be step-for-step with him all the way to the sideline.

Whittemore's size wins here, allowing him to bring the ball in, but more polished safeties will make a play on this ball often unless Whittemore can begin to separate better. That's where improved hip fluidity and sinking into his breaks becomes important.

This is where Whittemore thrives: At X-receiver against zone coverage and working outside near the boundary. In these cases, Whittemore will typically open the play with a nice cushion, have space to utilize his footwork to close a defenders hips, and win vertically with no safety help on defense. And his high-pointing ability will come in handy here if there is tighter coverage from the cornerback, on top of his footwork skills and comfort playing in an isolation role.

Trent Whittemore has the vertical ability to be a play-making receiver at the University of Florida. His floor is being a redzone target and contested catch receiver in this offense, who is capable of beating press coverage with physicality, nimble feet, and natural length to high-point the ball.

However, further development to better his hip fluidity and polish his routes all across the field is needed in order to become an all-around threat at wide receiver. Much like the needed development we've seen from current Gators receiver Trevon Grimes.

Expect Whittemore to redshirt his first year at Florida, considering the Gators receiver room is packed with proven talent already.

During his redshirt year, Whittemore can focus on agility drills thoroughly with receivers coach Billy Gonzales in order to develop in needed areas and eventually become a legitimate pass game threat for UF.