The Florida Gators' 10 highest-ranked signees over the last decade

With football season less than a month away and prime recruiting season in full swing, GatorsTerritory decided to take a journey down memory lane and examine UF's previous recruiting classes.

We top 10 signees over the last decade, highlight their career in Gainesville, and seeing where they are at now.

We start off the list with someone who many think was possibly the most high-profile recruit of all time, Ronald Powell. Arriving with a whole of hype, Powell arrived in Gainesville by way of California as the No. 1 overall recruit in the class of 2010.

Unfortunately, he struggled to make the kind of impact you would expect from the top-ranked recruit and five-star prospect. Powell had a modest career at UF, tallying 84 tackles, 11 sacks and a forced fumble.

Powell was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, and was on four different teams over the course of his three-year NFL career. Powell is currently a free agent.

Coming in at No. 2 on this list is DJ Humphries.

Humphries was the second-ranked overall recruit in the class of 2012, making his way down to Gainesville from North Carolina. However, at times, DJ’s UF career was plagued by injuries but was still a successful one.

The former five-star prospect appeared in all 12 games as a true freshman, starting in three contests and being named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. Over the next two years, Humphries started in just 16-of-24 games because of injuries. However, that didn’t seem to hurt DJ’s draft stock, as he was selected by the Arizona Cardinals with the 24th overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.

Humphries is still on the Cardinals' roster and started nine games at left tackle before having his season cut short with a knee injury in week 10.

Checking in at No. 3 is Vernon Hargreaves III. He was also the second-ranked recruit in his class and arrived in Gainesville ready to make his mark. He earned his first start during week three of his freshman year against Tennessee, and started 35-of-37 games over the course of his career.

Hargreaves was also a consensus First-Team All-American during his junior year before declaring for the 2016 NFL Draft and being selected 11th overall by the Tampa Buccaneers. The Bucs recently exercised his fifth year option, giving him two more years on his rookie contract.

A Tampa Bay native, Hargreaves racked up 118 tackles, 28 pass breakups and 10 interceptions during his three years at the Swamp.

Martez Ivey clocks in at No. 4 on the list. Ivey was the fourth-ranked overall recruit for the 2015 class and arrived at UF with a lot of hype and promise at a position of need at that time. Though many think he didn’t live up to his No. 4 billing, Ivey was consistently in the starting lineup from the moment he stepped on campus.

As a true freshman, Ivey started eight games at left guard for the Gators. He also went on to start 36-of-37 games over the next three years between left guard and left tackle.

Ivey went undrafted in this year’s draft, but did receive a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks.

Sharrif Floyd is No. 5 on the list after being tagged as the fourth overall prospect in the class of 2010. Floyd was a force in the middle of the defensive line from the moment he stepped foot on campus, earning a spot on the SEC All-Freshman Team as well.

The Philadelphia native followed that up by being labeled as an All-American during his junior year as well. Sharrif was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the 23rd overall pick in the 2013 Draft. Floyd showed promise early in his NFL career until an injury derailed his career only four years in. Following surgery to fix his meniscus, Floyd was then diagnosed with nerve damage

Floyd totaled 115 tackles, 26 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks over the course of his three-year career in Gainesville.

Hailing from Shelby, North Carolina, Jonathan Bullard is the former Gator holding down the sixth spot on our list, and was linked to that exact number in the final Rivals100 rankings as well.

Bullard had an excellent career and improved his numbers in each of his four years in Gainesville, including a big senior season that resulted in 17.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks. His 17.5 tackles for loss is the Gators' highest number since Alex Brown posted 18 in 1999.

Bullard’s career stats includes 178 tackles, 33.5 tackles for loss and 12 sacks. He is currently playing for the Chicago Bears, which drafted him in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft.

Staying put with the defensive line trend is Dominique Easley, who was the seventh-ranked player overall in the Gators' loaded 2010 class. The first three years of Easley’s career were very good for an interior defensive lineman; however, his much-anticipated senior year was cut short after just three games due to a torn ACL.

Even with missing the vast majority of his senior season, Easley still posted solid career numbers with 72 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks. His injury didn’t seem to affect his draft stock too much though, as he was selected by the New England Patriots in the first round of the 2014 draft.

Easley played two seasons for the Patriots before being released and then signing with the Los Angeles Rams in 2016. Towards the end of the 2018 season, the Rams put Easley on IR after undergoing knee surgery.

Still on the defensive side of the ball but transitioning to the secondary, Jalen Tabor is the former Gator to check in at No. 8. Tabor was the 10th overall prospect in the class of 2014, and flipped from Arizona to UF by showing up on campus as an early enrollee.

Tabor was a three-year standout in the Gators' secondary, earning Freshman All-American First-Team honors, as well as All-SEC First-Team during both his sophomore and junior seasons.

Jalen totaled 104 tackles, 33 pass breakups, which is the sixth most in program history, and nine interceptions during his career in Gainesville. A second round selection in the 2017 NFL Draft, Tabor remains in the Midwest with the Detroit Lions.

Jelani Jenkins, the 10th overall recruit in the class of 2009, redshirted during his first year in Gainesville, but made a splash a year later by starting in 11-of-13 games and racking up 76 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss.

He had a very similar stat line during his redshirt sophomore season as well. Starting 12 games, Jenkins totaled 75 tackles, with six of them being for a loss. Jelani ended his UF career with 182 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, seven pass breakups and three interceptions.

Jenkins was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played four seasons before playing for three different teams in 2017. Jenkins is currently an NFL free agent.

We have finally arrived at No. 10.

I’m sure many Gator fans are well aware of what has gone on with what I like to call the Steele Saga. Chris Steele, the 19th-ranked overall recruit in last year’s class, enrolled in January and went through spring ball getting plenty of reps with the first team due to the injury that held Marco Wilson out of all contact drills.

After only being on campus for about three months, Steele later decided to transfer away from UF due to certain circumstances. Steele committed to transfer to Oregon just a short time after entering the transfer portal only to back out of that commitment and enroll at the school that once held his pledge during the recruiting process, the University of Southern California.

Steele is currently enrolled at USC and expected to make an early impact for the Trojans should he be allowed to play this upcoming season.

Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.