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Rivals100 Recap: Bowman earns fifth star, Beck makes a monstrous leap

On Tuesday, Rivals released a fresh batch of Rivals100 rankings for the class of 2020, with one Florida commit making the list.

GatorsTerritory breaks down where Florida’s top targets are currently ranked at and their status with the program.

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Demarkcus Bowman was one of the biggest winners in the updated rankings that were released this week.

The product out of Lakeland jumped 15 spots nationally and gained his fifth star in the process.

Earlier this month, Bowman visited Florida for the first time this year as he was in attendance for the school’s junior day. When speaking to GT’s Corey Bender a week later, the 5-foot-11, 190-pounder moved Dan Mullen’s program to the top of his leaderboard.

“I would say Florida,” Bowman said when asked which school is leading for him. “Just the relationship [with the coaches] and the tradition. And the history from Lakeland to Florida.”

A flurry of other schools, specifically Clemson and Georgia, are vying for his services, but Florida is currently sitting in the driver’s seat for Bowman.

Prior to Tuesday, Carson Beck was not even a member of the Rivals250.

Now, the signal-caller out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin checks in as the 83rd-ranked prospect in the nation.

Beck, who de-committed from Alabama shortly after trips to UF and Miami earlier this month, figures to be a Florida lean at this juncture.

Before his visit to Gainesville on Feb. 2, the four-star prospect labeled the Gators as the program that was behind the Crimson Tide in his recruitment.

At the Under Armour All-America camp in Orlando a couple of weekends ago, Beck touched on the development he believes that he would see under the tutelage of Mullen and quarterbacks coach Brian Johnson.

"Especially with their kind of track record of quarterbacks," Beck previously told GatorsTerritory. "It's definitely something that I can see myself (doing)… I feel like a good coach can use any quarterback and use his strengths to kind of make their team better."

As has been the case since he committed to the school last month, Leonard Manuel is Florida’s only pledge in the Rivals100 rankings.

The four-star recruit dropped eight spots on the national scale, but continues to check in as one of the top ranked wideouts in his class.

Although he has been committed twice before, Manuel appears to be locked in with the Gators and has been an active ambassador for the program on social media.

Smalls and Walker are two of Florida’s top targets on the defensive line for this batch of juniors.

The talented defensive ends didn’t see any significant drops on Tuesday, with Smalls maintaining his place in the top ten and Walker falling only three spots.

Both prospects came away impressed from their visits to the school last year and are looking to make return trips to UF, with Walker already having a date in mind to get back to Gainesville.

Walker, who is eyeing a visit to Florida on March 16, recently spoke with GT about where the Gators stand with him in his recruitment.

“Florida fits in really good with me,” Walker said. “I really liked Florida once I went down there. I felt like I fit in; I liked all of the coaches. I just feel like Florida is one of the places that can make me feel like I’m at home.”

With Fred Davis holding onto his fifth star and Miles Brooks dropping just five spots nationally, there were no notable changes for the Trinity Christian Academy teammates in the rankings.

The Gators have been selling Brooks and Davis on the idea of coming in and replacing cornerbacks C.J. Henderson and Marco Wilson when they end up leaving the program.

While both players ended up not going to Florida’s junior day this month, securing the pair of Jacksonville-based juniors is still a top priority for Mullen’s staff.

Although Marc Britt fell 44 spots and is now the 93-ranked prospect in the nation, UF is still high on the wide receiver out of Miami (Fla.) Carol City.

The four-star recruit visited the school before the turn of the new year, which was shortly followed by his announcement that he was decommitting from Miami.

Last month, Britt told CaneSport that the Hurricanes were still the number one school on his list, but that Florida and Penn State rounded out his top three.

The Gators will have their work cut out for them with the South Florida native, but the program is in a better position for Britt than they were prior to his December visit.

Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.

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