Three UA participants who could flip
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — There are some talented prospects competing this week at the Under Armour All-America Game that are committed to a school, but chose not to sign during the Early Signing Period. What does that mean? It likely means their minds are not 100-percent made up and they will give other schools more time to recruit them.
Chad Simmons took a look at five who are flip candidates between now and National Signing Day on Feb. 7.
Three of the five are prospects Florida is involved with.
His thoughts on the three are below along with my own take on where things stand.
MORE UAAAG: Farrell's thoughts | Tuesday's takeaways
-----
* Pitts plans on being an early contributor
* Two four-stars set Florida visits
* Gouraige committed, may not visit Florida
* TRY OUR 30 DAY FREE TRIAL OFFER (PROMO CODE Gators30)
-----
COMMITTED TO: Alabama
SIMMONS: Walker has been committed to Alabama since June and the odds of him staying with the Tide do not look to be great. Auburn, Florida and Georgia will receive official visits in January and Tennessee could receive one as well. He does not plan to take one to Alabama. He saw his former teammate, Markaviest Bryant, sign with Auburn in 2017, he grew up a fan of the Gators and the Dawgs are the home-state team, so Nick Saban has a lot to worry about here.
WHEELER: Florida visited with him back during the December contact period and he was open to the Gators at that point. Since then he has set an official visit with UF. At this time it appears that he won't sign with Alabama, leaving Georgia as the Gators biggest threat.
FLORIDA'S CURRENT CHANCES: 50%
COMMITTED TO: Auburn
SIMMONS: Alabama is out, so Auburn does not have to worry about its in-state rival here, but with Jeremy Pruitt leaving the Tide for Tennessee, the Vols have become a player. Florida was at one time the leader for Miller too, and he now plans to take an official visit to Gainesville in January. Oregon is a school mentioned too, but look for Miller to stay in the South. Auburn still seems to be in a very good place here to hold on to Miller, but when kids take visits, anything is possible.
WHEELER: This is an interesting recruiting process because he called Florida his leader, even going as far as having a Gators logo at the top of his Twitter feed, for months before his announcement. He took visit after visit to Auburn and Alabama, but never traveled to see Florida after a brief summer visit. Follow actions, not words. Therefore, everyone knew, and he confirmed when he committed, that he was an Auburn lean the entire time. Now, the Florida coach he was closest to, Chris Rumph, is no longer on staff. After he takes - or if he takes - his official visit we will have a better feel. Right now you have to think this is an uphill climb to put it kindly.
FLORIDA'S CURRENT CHANCES: 10% (at least doubles if he actually visits)
COMMITTED TO: Florida
SIMMONS: Being from the Sunshine State and committed to the Gators, but not taking an official visit to Florida in January just does not seem right. He says all of the right things, but Gouriage seems to be trending away from Florida a little. Auburn and Clemson will receive official visits next month, but what about Florida? He does not plan to take one to the school he is currently committed to right now, so how strong is Gouriage to the Gators? Only time will tell, but it appears Florida has a lot of work to do if it plans on keeping this four-star offensive tackle home.
WHEELER: As of Monday, though he maintained he was committed to Florida, he was still saying that he was unsure whether or not the Gators would receive an official visit. Though he talks to Auburn and Clemson coaches all the time, he hasn't really spoken in-depth yet with Dan Mullen. If that talk happens, and then he doesn't officially visit, you can call it a wrap. Follow actions, not words. If a commit will visit Auburn, Clemson and even perhaps Ole Miss, but not the school he is committed to, the writing is on the wall.
FLORIDA'S CURRENT CHANCES: 35% in that until he visits the other two, you have to like UF in a three way battle. It will obviously change after visits.
------
Thank you for reading this Inside the Gators article. To discuss it, please visit the Alligator Alley Forum.