UF looks to take back Jacksonville

BMF

Bad Mother....
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You don't know how happy I am to read an article like this. I've said this several times, but Butters literally conceded Jacksonville to any team w/ a pulse. He gave up Jacksonville and several other parts of the state. He even gave up recruiting the state of Georgia. Jacksonville has always been UF country, along w/ Tampa and mostly the Orlando area. If this staff makes our own state a priority again - vs. going after 3-stars and diamonds in the rough in the Miami area - we'll be back in the top 5 recruiting within a year.


UF looks to take back Jacksonville
The Gators look to have more of a presence in one of the state's top recruiting hotbeds.

https://florida.247sports.com/Artic...-UF-looks-to-take-back-Jacksonville-114076323

Since new Florida head coach Dan Mullen has taken over the Gators program, one region of the state he has wanted to make more of a priority moving forward is the Jacksonville area. The area produces a good amount of top-end football recruits, and it’s close proximity to Gainesville make it an ideal area for the Gators to target.

On Monday, area recruiter Charlton Warren visited many of the local high school coaches to extend new offers while also reaffirm old tenders. One of the first stops for Warren was powerhouse Trinity Christian, a program that has produced several elite recruits in recent years. There Florida extended an offer to current Miami 2019 running back commit Marcus Crowley. The 6-foot-1, 200-pounder is a talented runner, but he’s also versatile enough to possible be a linebacker or safety on the next level as well. A pair of 2020 cornerbacks at Trinity Christian also landed Florida offers in Fred Davis and Miles Brooks. Both are over 6-foot, and have early Power 5 offers.

Baldwin High was another school the Gators visited on Monday. There UF offered 6-foot-5, 290-pound offensive tackle Howard Allen Jr., a prospect that landed an offer from Alabama last summer after impressing at the Tide’s camp. Auburn and South Carolina are two other SEC offers for Allen.

Florida also stopped by Orange Park (Fla.) Oakleaf, home of two of the nation’s best 2020 recruits, offensive tackle Jalen Rivers and defensive end Chantz Williams. Florida reaffirmed old offers to both. Rivers is a massive 6-foot-5, 325-pound offensive tackle that ranks No. 59 in the nation for the 2020 class according to 247Sports. The athletic 6-foot-4, 215-pound Williams checks in at No. 63 in the nation. 2019 running back Keshawn King is another Oakleaf prospect the Gators are still evaluating.

The Gators also checked on 2020 defensive end commit Josh Griffis at Green Cove Springs (Fla.) Clay. A couple other high schools the Gators met with coaches at were Robert E. Lee and Bartram Trail.

On Tuesday, Florida is set to visit Neptune Beach (Fla.) Fletcher for prized 2019 wide receiver commit Jeremiah Payton. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Payton has the size Mullen likes with his receivers, and he ranks No. 23 in the nation according to 247Sports. Miami, Alabama, Georgia as well as Florida are just a few of Payton’s early offers.

As Florida continues its quest to have more of a presence in Jacksonville, look for Mullen to take a tour through the city and surrounding areas sometime in the near future before the contact period ends.
 

GatorFL

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Very encouraging. I agree with BMF that Mullen needs to focus on the Tampa/Lakeland and Orlando areas. I'd also like to see a strong focuse on South Florida as well.
 

lizardbreath

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We used to own the whole area from Lake City to Sarasota and Lakeland. And occasionally we'd get a good one way out west or down south. Those were the days.
 

maheo30

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It'll be hard making inroads at Trinity Christian. FSU gets the pick of the litter if they want it. Dorminey's ties to FSU started when I was attending high school there. FSU began recruiting TCA when no one else was because the talent was such garbage.
 

Woodroe

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Really like the idea of concentrating on somewhere besides MIAMI. Yeah I think we need to get in SOUTH Florida schools like Pahokee and Bell Glades. Maybe my memory ain't what it used to be but have we had much success with any kids from Miami schools since Carlos Alvarez. Maybe Errict Rhett (Hollywood) counts as Miami. Just seems like all of our historical game changers came from Tallahasse west to the panhandle, Jax area, the belt between Tampa, Orlando south to Naples and Hollywood. Win those areas back, cherry pick out of state, in Miami, and in North Central Florida and we should have enough talent to go as far as our coaching will take us.
 

BMF

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It'll be hard making inroads at Trinity Christian. FSU gets the pick of the litter if they want it. Dorminey's ties to FSU started when I was attending high school there. FSU began recruiting TCA when no one else was because the talent was such garbage.

Isn't Gus Scott a coach there? I know there's an FSU player coaching there too, but not sure.

Miss State signed an OL from Fletcher HS in their 2017 class, so I'm sure they have a better "relationship" w/ the 5-star WR than Butters and co. had. Josh Corey (former UF walk-on OL) left Fletcher as head coach a few years ago, so that advantage is gone, but Fletcher has been good to us - Fason, the Bartley's, Kyle Jackson, current FB Raymond (they did produce an FSU star WR years ago, Cooper).
 

Swamp Donkey

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Recruiting? Who needs it?

:mac:

I could win with my dog playing OL, WR and TE.
 

GatorJ

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It'll be hard making inroads at Trinity Christian. FSU gets the pick of the litter if they want it. Dorminey's ties to FSU started when I was attending high school there. FSU began recruiting TCA when no one else was because the talent was such garbage.

Ohio State says hi.
 

gatordad3

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It's about time UF started invading Oakleaf High School in Orange Park. The past 2 years at Oakleaf had nothing but garbage coaching(and coaches favorites). Losing Coach Derek Chipoletti hurt 2 seasons ago, but there's still a boat load of talent at that school.
 
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Chomper

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As a Jacksonville resident and UF grad, I hate it when I see a top area player sign with f$u. That is bad enough, but when i see some 4 star or 5 star local kid sign with an out of state school, I really cringe. I know we can't sign all of them but there has never been a good excuse not to be in the running for all of the elite players from Duval.
 

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