- Oct 15, 2014
- 12,185
- 16,976
Everyone who comments on Franks seems to use the spring game as his current condition. I dont believe that.
Lacedrick Brunson Next Gator Great?
- Thread starter maheo30
- Start date
Everyone who comments on Franks seems to use the spring game as his current condition. I dont believe that.
- Jun 11, 2014
- 21,136
- 33,953
Founding Member
So over eight years you found 15 players. So almost two players a class. Out of all of those guys I would only say three were really good (Murphy,McDonald, and Davis), 1 was an ST star (James).
Cox and Joiner were on the verge of really good.
The rest were serviceable. Our OL has pretty much been a disaster.
So technically 6. That's about what? .8 3 star players a year being really good. We brought in what? Something like ten 3 stars a year ago? So 9 will be mediocre.
Awesome.
- Jun 13, 2014
- 25,242
- 10,084
Founding Member
He may be placing it on Franks throwing about 6 picks in about his last known 20 attempts since leaving his high school. When the guy at 24/7 got to see Franks just real quick at bowl practice he said the throw he saw was intercepted also. I am a little nervous we may have another Driskel on our hands. I hope not.
Gator2222
Well-Known Member
- Nov 25, 2016
- 1,181
- 2,133
I'm nervous as well just because it's unknown what we have at the position. However, the only info we truly have is a year old (spring game). If the guy at 247 only saw one pass and it was intercepted, well that's one pass.
Franks looked completely lost in that spring game. It is well documented that he did not receive any coaching in high school. His team didn't have an offensive coordinator and the head coach just stood on the sidelines and let Franks run the offensive practices. The Orange and Blue game took place a few weeks after Franks arrived on campus. I think we were seeing a kid that was experiencing organized coaching and college speed for the first time and was overwhelmed.
On the other hand he was the 5th rated QB in all the land coming out of high school. That means he has the physical tools despite his lack of experience. Hopefully the last year of film room and practices has him ready. To be honest, I'm hoping Trask has the tools to grab the starting job. It would be great PR for the program and would gain national attention.
Gator2222
Well-Known Member
- Nov 25, 2016
- 1,181
- 2,133
I agree that the production from 3*s in the past has been spotty. However, the offensive 4*s under Muschamp didn't fare too well either.
I don't think you can take the 3*s from three different head coaches and average them out. So far McElwain appears to have the ability to do a little better than that average. In his first 2 recruiting classes he has had an abnormally large percentage of 3*s contribute. I haven't looked at the numbers so it may simply be that there are more of them. It could also be that the lack of offensive depth and talent when McElwain arrived has presented more opportunity. It could also be that Mac and staff have a talent for spotting players that got lost in the system and were not properly evaluated.
It's probably a combination of everything. Only time will tell.
Just to clarify, no Swamp Donkey, I am NOT saying that I love 3*s and I am not advocating that we start recruiting only 3* players.
- Jun 13, 2014
- 25,242
- 10,084
Founding Member
I am a little surprised about the lack of respect Trask gets sometimes. He may have been the backup due to that team and QB scoring a bunch of points but he is the QB we have on the roster that shows in his high school tape he can make the tight throws with touch into decent coverage you need to be able to make in college.
- Jun 9, 2014
- 78,481
- 110,933
Founding Member
- Aug 1, 2014
- 5,059
- 7,061
Just watch! He'll be #1 on the depth chart after spring but don't be surprised if he doesn't start vs Michigan
- Jun 11, 2014
- 16,754
- 20,381
Founding Member
Interesting quote from the following article, https://www.seccountry.com/florida/gators-south-florida-recruiting-star-team-now. Not sure if it's already been posted elsewhere.
Moreover, Shannon and others on the staff felt 2-star defensive end Keivonnis Davis from Miami was actually better than 5-star DE Byron Cowart — the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit — after watching both of them compete in the Class 6A state championship game.
That evaluation has been spot on thus far, according to their production. Cowart has just 12 tackles and no sacks in 23 games played, while Davis has 31 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 17 games played (5 starts).
Moreover, Shannon and others on the staff felt 2-star defensive end Keivonnis Davis from Miami was actually better than 5-star DE Byron Cowart — the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit — after watching both of them compete in the Class 6A state championship game.
That evaluation has been spot on thus far, according to their production. Cowart has just 12 tackles and no sacks in 23 games played, while Davis has 31 tackles and 1.5 sacks in 17 games played (5 starts).
- Oct 6, 2016
- 2,019
- 784
We have a far better success rate with 4-5*s than 2-3*s that's for sure.
- Oct 6, 2016
- 2,019
- 784
I went back the years 2001-2014:
We have brought in 44 2-3*s since NSD 2015 per 247
2015:
AC81-star WR
Jordan-Good OL player
Williamson-No impact
Daniel Im-Transferred
Zuniga-Showed up first few games of the schedule. Disappeared during SEC play
Sandifer-backup
Knight-Backup TE
K. Jackson-Injured last yr, moving to TE
lil Ivie- Gone Med. hardship
K. Davis- Backup- Minimal impact
RDJ-backup
Kylan- Potential starter
Fred Johnson-Terrible at T, moved to G, average impact
Buchanan-Backup
Luke Ancrum-depth
Rayshad Jackson-ST player
2016:
Taylor-Backup S and ST player
Massey- Torn ACL/RS
Reese- 2017 Starter; huge impact player
Wells- R/S, known more for BB guns than football
Burnett-R/S
Perine- Instant Impact, backup to Scarlett
Heggie-R/S
Lenton- Injured, R/S
Joseph- Backup LB, will compete for starting spot
Polite-Backup, potential big impact at DE/DT
Taylor-Star at T
Forsythe-R/S
Putu- ST/backup
Pineiro-Star at K
Trask-RS/backup QB.
2017: TBD
- Jun 11, 2014
- 16,754
- 20,381
Founding Member
Most would and should tend to agree. I would say that we've had a fair share of 3* successes. Enough under this staff that they can't be dismissed outright. I think we do a good job of evaluating talent and a poor job of attracting elite talent thus far. Winning with a good offense will improve that.
- Sep 8, 2014
- 25,447
- 59,442
Another story on Brunson....he wanted to go to FSU! I hope this kid can play. Luckily, we beat out FIU for him!!
https://www.seccountry.com/florida/recruiting-rewind-let-fsu-lacedrick-Brunson
Recruiting Rewind: Let down by FSU, Lacedrick Brunson ready to prove himself at Florida
MIAMI — All along linebacker Lacedrick Brunson was hoping to get a scholarship offer from the college football power in the northern part of Florida.
And indeed he would — just not the one he initially expected.
Brunson said his biggest disappointment in the recruiting process was when Florida State’s interest in him fizzled, but little did he know another premier in-state program was ready to step in and make a late push for him.
“[Florida State] was like my top school I wanted to go to, and they showed a lot of interest. They showed up to my school, talked to me and stuff, told me to visit their campus and I did and I performed well. But I still never got an offer,” Brunson said over the weekend in his Miami home, reflecting on his recruitment.
Instead, the Florida Gators would take notice of Brunson and seal the deal. While the 247Sports composite ranks him as a 2-star prospect — the only 2-star recruit in Florida’s 2017 signing class — Gators defensive coordinator Randy Shannon believed the 6-foot-2, 210-pound linebacker was an underrated talent.
After watching Brunson’s Miami Jackson High School team play against eventual state champion American Heritage, featuring three other Gators defensive signees in linebacker James Houston, defensive tackle T.J. Slaton and cornerback Marco Wilson, Shannon reached out to Brunson the next day.
“[My family was] all excited knowing one of the top schools had interest in me,” Brunson said.
Eventually he’d land that scholarship offer from a marquee program, just like he envisioned for himself, and on the final day of his official visit to Florida in late January he committed to the Gators.
While he was initially angling for a Florida State offer, Brunson made clear he hadn’t taken sides on the Gators-Seminoles rivalry growing up. He got hooked watching Tim Tebow’s national championship Florida teams as well and considers the end result of his recruiting process plenty satisfying.
“That was one of my favorite teams growing up,” he said.
While Florida is often battling the likes of Alabama, nonconference rival Florida State and other SEC foes for recruits, that wasn’t so much the case with Brunson.
If Florida hadn’t come into the picture late, he says he would have signed with Florida International.
Instead, he’ll get a chance to prove the recruiting rankings wrong with the Gators.
“It wasn’t a hard decision,” he said.
The following is part of SEC Country’s Recruiting Rewind series.
Q: If you could give one piece advice to a high school junior just starting to get involved in the recruiting process, what would you tell them?
Brunson: “I would tell him don’t rush it, just play as hard as you can and somebody will find you and pick you up. Don’t stress about not having offers and stuff like that. It will come.”
Q: What school finished second in the end?
Brunson: “Second was FIU. I was choosing FIU or UF.”
Q: What’s the most creative thing a school did on one of your recruiting visits?
Brunson: “I had a lot of fun at the Florida visit. They showed me how it was going to be and stuff like that. When we all got on the field, recruits and parents, they had something playing on the screen. You had the feeling of how it would be playing on that field.”
Q: Who was the funniest head coach you talked with during the process?
Brunson: “[Florida coach Jim] McElwain. He was funny, being at his house and stuff during his visit. He and his wife were both funny.”
Q: What’s the biggest regret you had from the recruiting process?
Brunson: “I don’t have any regrets from my recruiting process. I like how everything turned out.”
Q: Who was the hardest coach to say no to?
Brunson: “Probably FIU because I know what they’re going to build and could be like in a couple years. They respected my decision and what I wanted to do.”
https://www.seccountry.com/florida/recruiting-rewind-let-fsu-lacedrick-Brunson
Recruiting Rewind: Let down by FSU, Lacedrick Brunson ready to prove himself at Florida
MIAMI — All along linebacker Lacedrick Brunson was hoping to get a scholarship offer from the college football power in the northern part of Florida.
And indeed he would — just not the one he initially expected.
Brunson said his biggest disappointment in the recruiting process was when Florida State’s interest in him fizzled, but little did he know another premier in-state program was ready to step in and make a late push for him.
“[Florida State] was like my top school I wanted to go to, and they showed a lot of interest. They showed up to my school, talked to me and stuff, told me to visit their campus and I did and I performed well. But I still never got an offer,” Brunson said over the weekend in his Miami home, reflecting on his recruitment.
Instead, the Florida Gators would take notice of Brunson and seal the deal. While the 247Sports composite ranks him as a 2-star prospect — the only 2-star recruit in Florida’s 2017 signing class — Gators defensive coordinator Randy Shannon believed the 6-foot-2, 210-pound linebacker was an underrated talent.
After watching Brunson’s Miami Jackson High School team play against eventual state champion American Heritage, featuring three other Gators defensive signees in linebacker James Houston, defensive tackle T.J. Slaton and cornerback Marco Wilson, Shannon reached out to Brunson the next day.
“[My family was] all excited knowing one of the top schools had interest in me,” Brunson said.
Eventually he’d land that scholarship offer from a marquee program, just like he envisioned for himself, and on the final day of his official visit to Florida in late January he committed to the Gators.
While he was initially angling for a Florida State offer, Brunson made clear he hadn’t taken sides on the Gators-Seminoles rivalry growing up. He got hooked watching Tim Tebow’s national championship Florida teams as well and considers the end result of his recruiting process plenty satisfying.
“That was one of my favorite teams growing up,” he said.
While Florida is often battling the likes of Alabama, nonconference rival Florida State and other SEC foes for recruits, that wasn’t so much the case with Brunson.
If Florida hadn’t come into the picture late, he says he would have signed with Florida International.
Instead, he’ll get a chance to prove the recruiting rankings wrong with the Gators.
“It wasn’t a hard decision,” he said.
The following is part of SEC Country’s Recruiting Rewind series.
Q: If you could give one piece advice to a high school junior just starting to get involved in the recruiting process, what would you tell them?
Brunson: “I would tell him don’t rush it, just play as hard as you can and somebody will find you and pick you up. Don’t stress about not having offers and stuff like that. It will come.”
Q: What school finished second in the end?
Brunson: “Second was FIU. I was choosing FIU or UF.”
Q: What’s the most creative thing a school did on one of your recruiting visits?
Brunson: “I had a lot of fun at the Florida visit. They showed me how it was going to be and stuff like that. When we all got on the field, recruits and parents, they had something playing on the screen. You had the feeling of how it would be playing on that field.”
Q: Who was the funniest head coach you talked with during the process?
Brunson: “[Florida coach Jim] McElwain. He was funny, being at his house and stuff during his visit. He and his wife were both funny.”
Q: What’s the biggest regret you had from the recruiting process?
Brunson: “I don’t have any regrets from my recruiting process. I like how everything turned out.”
Q: Who was the hardest coach to say no to?
Brunson: “Probably FIU because I know what they’re going to build and could be like in a couple years. They respected my decision and what I wanted to do.”
- Nov 9, 2015
- 7,401
- 4,168
So you would rather have an empty slot or a walk on. Even if he does not work out at LB we need decent talent on special teams where he might find a home if not on the defense. Now he is a Gator and as such as long as he behaves properly I support him fully.
- Sep 8, 2014
- 25,447
- 59,442
I think this horse was beaten earlier in the thread (as this is an old thread). I agree w/ you. I'm happy we got this kid. That would have been one unused spot and we needed LB's. He was recruited by FSU early and was All-Dade County, which is huge. He'll likely grow into a 230+lb LB and, at a minimum, contribute on ST's. I'm tired of having unused scholarships - like we've had the last 10+ years.
- Mar 27, 2016
- 4,890
- 3,201
Alas college football programs sign 22 players a year and have about 5 classes in the program at any one time. Of those 110 players, 85 or less must be around each year and of those 85 30 to 44 play a significant role. So what you have just discovered about 2 and 3 star players is in fact the norm for college football. Most recruits do not contribute.
Now do 5 and 4 star players ON AVERAGE have a higher rate of contributing, sure. But the bottom line is that most recruits do not contribute much.
- Sep 8, 2014
- 25,447
- 59,442
Another good Brunson story:
Next Generation: Under-the-radar LB Lacedrick Brunson eager to prove himself at Florida
https://www.seccountry.com/florida/next-generation-radar-lb-lacedrick-brunson-eager-prove-florida
MIAMI — It was already deep into Lacedrick Brunson’s senior season at Miami Jackson High School, late October, and with limited scholarship offers he expected he’d sign with the football program at Florida International when the time came.
Brunson, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker, had been rated a 2-star prospect according to the 247Sports composite rankings, keeping him off the radar of many of the major programs in the region.
He didn’t agree with that appraisal, but he also didn’t dwell on it, he says. He was determined to prove himself, be it at FIU or wherever.
Little did he know, though, he was about to earn another believer, someone who agreed his talent belonged on a bigger stage and who could make that happen for him.
Florida defensive coordinator Randy Shannon, the Gators’ linebackers coach and co-coordinator at the time, showed up in town last fall to watch Miami Jackson’s Oct. 21 game with American Heritage — an eventual state champion featuring three top Florida recruits.
Brunson was made aware Shannon was in attendance and knew this was his audition.
“He was on the sideline talking to one of my coaches and my coach pointed me out to him and told him to watch me,” Brunson said. “I think he was there to watch somebody else. American Heritage has got a lot of recruits. But he saw me.”
While American Heritage rolled to a 44-21 win, Brunson left his mark nonetheless. Miami Jackson’s stats aren’t available from the game, but he made enough tackles to get Shannon’s attention.
“I wasn’t counting, but it was a lot,” Brunson said.
The next day, Shannon reached out to the linebacker and expressed Florida’s interest.
“I was just excited. It was unexpected,” Brunson’s mother Tiquia Morrow recalls.
If Shannon’s interest came as an initial surprise, he made sure Brunson and those around him knew he was serious about wanting the linebacker to end up with the Gators.
Said Miami Jackson head coach Lakatriona Brunson, who is not related to Lacedrick: “After that Randy was coming to the school on the regular. He came to the school like four or five times just to make sure, because Ced was real quiet. Ced wouldn’t say nothing to nobody, he wouldn’t call nobody. We had just got him on social media during the football season. We made him a Twitter, made him a Facebook, made him all the other stuff (so) he was able to communicate more. Got him a phone.”
That Brunson was so off the grid in those ways aligned with his status as an off-the-radar prospect, which was due in large part to injuries early in his high school years that kept him off the field and limited the tape with which recruiters could evaluate him.
But ultimately all he needed was for the right person to take notice that night in late October.
Now it’s on him to prove Shannon, who built his reputation identifying and developing often overlooked talent as an assistant coach and later defensive coordinator at Miami in the 1990s and early 2000s, made yet another keen find.
‘Silent leader’
Morrow, Brunson’s mother, realized early on her son was in his comfort zone on the football field.
There was just something different about him out there, an energy and expression that ran counter to his normal disposition.
“He’s always been quiet and reserved so if (people have) never seen him play they would expect the quietness and reserved (nature),” she said. “On the field he’s like a whole other person. I’m excited for people to see that side of him.”
That was the first impression he left on Lakatriona Brunson when she took over as Miami Jackson’s head football coach heading into the linebacker’s senior season.
“He was a silent leader when I first met him,” she said. “I put a lot of responsibility on him and then he started talking. I never heard him talk during the spring — not one time. He never said anything. [Eventually] he came out of his shell. He started telling people what they needed to do.”
She lauds the linebacker for being coachable, eager to do whatever he’s asked, and she needed all the buy-in she could get last season.
Lakatriona Brunson had made a name for herself as a reality television star on the truTV series “South Beach Tow.” Now she was trying to prove herself as the first woman high school head football coach in Florida.
The previous Miami Jackson coach had resigned, she was already working in the school, applied for the job and was selected for the position. But that was the easy part. The rest was “an uphill battle,” as she put it.
“Let’s be honest right here, a lot of people don’t want their kids to be in a predominantly male sport coached by a female,” she said. “… No matter how much I love the game and how much I know about the game.”
Lakatriona played seven seasons for the Miami Fury of the Women’s Professional Football League. She’d been around the game her whole life — her cousin Richard Gordon has played with several NFL teams since being drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2011 — and she knew she could handle the responsibility of coaching a high school team.
The challenge was getting everybody else to believe that.
Lacedrick Brunson admits he and a number of his teammates had initial doubts and even thought about transferring to a different school. “I got real close,” he said.
He stayed put, though, and the team eventually bought into its new coach. Miami Jackson had only two assistant coaches, though, as Lakatriona struggled to convince others to join her staff.
“Respect is earned. It’s not something that somebody is just going to give to you,” she said.
The team went 3-7 last year, losing a few close games along the way, but Lakatriona earned some believers herself during that campaign. She says her staff will now include 13 assistant coaches heading into her second season.
“Everything that happened was supposed to happen,” she said. “It helped me with preparing for this season and helped my outlook. If it would have been peaches and rosy and everything I wouldn’t appreciate it like I do now. That was a tough season, it was a tough year. I won’t even lie to you and say that it was easy. It was just a learning experience and it was kind of like a crash course. It felt like it was five years.”
She appreciated the attitude of the players throughout that first season, and on that topic she praises Lacedrick Brunson’s “humble” and receptive approach.
“He’s a hard worker. Whatever you ask him to do he’s going to do it,” she said.
They formed a good relationship through that season, and after all, they had something significant in common.
They both had something to prove.
Next Generation: Under-the-radar LB Lacedrick Brunson eager to prove himself at Florida
https://www.seccountry.com/florida/next-generation-radar-lb-lacedrick-brunson-eager-prove-florida
MIAMI — It was already deep into Lacedrick Brunson’s senior season at Miami Jackson High School, late October, and with limited scholarship offers he expected he’d sign with the football program at Florida International when the time came.
Brunson, a 6-foot-2, 220-pound linebacker, had been rated a 2-star prospect according to the 247Sports composite rankings, keeping him off the radar of many of the major programs in the region.
He didn’t agree with that appraisal, but he also didn’t dwell on it, he says. He was determined to prove himself, be it at FIU or wherever.
Little did he know, though, he was about to earn another believer, someone who agreed his talent belonged on a bigger stage and who could make that happen for him.
Florida defensive coordinator Randy Shannon, the Gators’ linebackers coach and co-coordinator at the time, showed up in town last fall to watch Miami Jackson’s Oct. 21 game with American Heritage — an eventual state champion featuring three top Florida recruits.
Brunson was made aware Shannon was in attendance and knew this was his audition.
“He was on the sideline talking to one of my coaches and my coach pointed me out to him and told him to watch me,” Brunson said. “I think he was there to watch somebody else. American Heritage has got a lot of recruits. But he saw me.”
While American Heritage rolled to a 44-21 win, Brunson left his mark nonetheless. Miami Jackson’s stats aren’t available from the game, but he made enough tackles to get Shannon’s attention.
“I wasn’t counting, but it was a lot,” Brunson said.
The next day, Shannon reached out to the linebacker and expressed Florida’s interest.
“I was just excited. It was unexpected,” Brunson’s mother Tiquia Morrow recalls.
If Shannon’s interest came as an initial surprise, he made sure Brunson and those around him knew he was serious about wanting the linebacker to end up with the Gators.
Said Miami Jackson head coach Lakatriona Brunson, who is not related to Lacedrick: “After that Randy was coming to the school on the regular. He came to the school like four or five times just to make sure, because Ced was real quiet. Ced wouldn’t say nothing to nobody, he wouldn’t call nobody. We had just got him on social media during the football season. We made him a Twitter, made him a Facebook, made him all the other stuff (so) he was able to communicate more. Got him a phone.”
That Brunson was so off the grid in those ways aligned with his status as an off-the-radar prospect, which was due in large part to injuries early in his high school years that kept him off the field and limited the tape with which recruiters could evaluate him.
But ultimately all he needed was for the right person to take notice that night in late October.
Now it’s on him to prove Shannon, who built his reputation identifying and developing often overlooked talent as an assistant coach and later defensive coordinator at Miami in the 1990s and early 2000s, made yet another keen find.
‘Silent leader’
Morrow, Brunson’s mother, realized early on her son was in his comfort zone on the football field.
There was just something different about him out there, an energy and expression that ran counter to his normal disposition.
“He’s always been quiet and reserved so if (people have) never seen him play they would expect the quietness and reserved (nature),” she said. “On the field he’s like a whole other person. I’m excited for people to see that side of him.”
That was the first impression he left on Lakatriona Brunson when she took over as Miami Jackson’s head football coach heading into the linebacker’s senior season.
“He was a silent leader when I first met him,” she said. “I put a lot of responsibility on him and then he started talking. I never heard him talk during the spring — not one time. He never said anything. [Eventually] he came out of his shell. He started telling people what they needed to do.”
She lauds the linebacker for being coachable, eager to do whatever he’s asked, and she needed all the buy-in she could get last season.
Lakatriona Brunson had made a name for herself as a reality television star on the truTV series “South Beach Tow.” Now she was trying to prove herself as the first woman high school head football coach in Florida.
The previous Miami Jackson coach had resigned, she was already working in the school, applied for the job and was selected for the position. But that was the easy part. The rest was “an uphill battle,” as she put it.
“Let’s be honest right here, a lot of people don’t want their kids to be in a predominantly male sport coached by a female,” she said. “… No matter how much I love the game and how much I know about the game.”
Lakatriona played seven seasons for the Miami Fury of the Women’s Professional Football League. She’d been around the game her whole life — her cousin Richard Gordon has played with several NFL teams since being drafted by the Oakland Raiders in 2011 — and she knew she could handle the responsibility of coaching a high school team.
The challenge was getting everybody else to believe that.
Lacedrick Brunson admits he and a number of his teammates had initial doubts and even thought about transferring to a different school. “I got real close,” he said.
He stayed put, though, and the team eventually bought into its new coach. Miami Jackson had only two assistant coaches, though, as Lakatriona struggled to convince others to join her staff.
“Respect is earned. It’s not something that somebody is just going to give to you,” she said.
The team went 3-7 last year, losing a few close games along the way, but Lakatriona earned some believers herself during that campaign. She says her staff will now include 13 assistant coaches heading into her second season.
“Everything that happened was supposed to happen,” she said. “It helped me with preparing for this season and helped my outlook. If it would have been peaches and rosy and everything I wouldn’t appreciate it like I do now. That was a tough season, it was a tough year. I won’t even lie to you and say that it was easy. It was just a learning experience and it was kind of like a crash course. It felt like it was five years.”
She appreciated the attitude of the players throughout that first season, and on that topic she praises Lacedrick Brunson’s “humble” and receptive approach.
“He’s a hard worker. Whatever you ask him to do he’s going to do it,” she said.
They formed a good relationship through that season, and after all, they had something significant in common.
They both had something to prove.
- Sep 8, 2014
- 25,447
- 59,442
(continued):
Ready for the spotlight
So about those recruiting rankings …
The 247Sports composite had Brunson ranked as the 156th-best outside linebacker in the 2017 class and the 354th-best prospect overall in the state of Florida. Yet, he’s part of a select group of in-state players about to start their freshman seasons in Gainesville.
Overall, the Gators signed 11 4-star prospects, 11 3-star prospects and Brunson in this class.
“I never felt like the stars and all that meant anything,” he said back in May, sitting in the living room of his family’s Miami home. “Even though I’m a 2-star, I know there’s people that are a 5-star that I can play better than. … It motivates me because I’m going to perform greater than what they expect.”
Lakatriona Brunson says the linebacker was undervalued because he got a late start as a high school football player due to injuries and was then hurt again during his junior season.
His Florida bio only provides stats from that junior season, crediting him with 84 tackles and 7 sacks in just six games. Brunson says he thrives on contact.
He envisions himself in the mold of Carolina Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly, a heady player who uses his football IQ and physical abilities to be around the ball making plays.
Meanwhile, ask Shannon about star ratings and recruiting rankings and he says that has nothing to do with the way he evaluates a player.
He reflected back on his stacked Miami defenses that produced a national championship in 2001 and national runner-up finish the next year, and noted that star safety Ed Reed was so lightly recruited that the Hurricanes were competing with Tulane during his recruitment. Shannon found defensive tackle William Joseph at Miami Edison High School and says there was nobody else trying to pry him away at that time. For star linebacker Jonathan Vilma, N.C. State was the biggest obstacle, he recalls.
Shannon’s point is it doesn’t matter who else is recruiting a player or what his star rating is if he identifies potential in the kid, as he did in Brunson.
“You don’t try to (focus on) 2-stars, I don’t know. I look at a guy who plays with a lot of high motor, that has a lot of fast-twitch muscles in him, that plays the game and loves the game. If you can find guys like that all the time you’ll be successful,” Shannon said. “I think those are things that when I was at Miami, and all the years I was at Miami, that’s what we developed. You’ve got to have confidence that if you find a guy that fits what you do and brings something to the table, you coach him, he’s going to be a great player.
“But if you’re always looking for a finished product out of high school, then you’re just going to be just a guy as a coach. A guy who can’t develop. And then if you don’t develop, now you’re just looking at a guy that’s a 5-star guy that’s probably disgruntled, upset, mad and he’s not playing and he’s not playing very good.”
Brunson is eager to prove Shannon right again, eager to prove Florida got a steal when it signed him and he’s not the only one who thinks so.
Lakatriona Brunson, who knows a little something about battling perception and preconceived expectations, believes the linebacker’s stock is only going to keep climbing as he applies his work ethic and abilities to the structure and coaching he’ll receive in Gainesville.
“I’m looking forward to him doing big things at Florida,” she said.
Ready for the spotlight
So about those recruiting rankings …
The 247Sports composite had Brunson ranked as the 156th-best outside linebacker in the 2017 class and the 354th-best prospect overall in the state of Florida. Yet, he’s part of a select group of in-state players about to start their freshman seasons in Gainesville.
Overall, the Gators signed 11 4-star prospects, 11 3-star prospects and Brunson in this class.
“I never felt like the stars and all that meant anything,” he said back in May, sitting in the living room of his family’s Miami home. “Even though I’m a 2-star, I know there’s people that are a 5-star that I can play better than. … It motivates me because I’m going to perform greater than what they expect.”
Lakatriona Brunson says the linebacker was undervalued because he got a late start as a high school football player due to injuries and was then hurt again during his junior season.
His Florida bio only provides stats from that junior season, crediting him with 84 tackles and 7 sacks in just six games. Brunson says he thrives on contact.
He envisions himself in the mold of Carolina Panthers star linebacker Luke Kuechly, a heady player who uses his football IQ and physical abilities to be around the ball making plays.
Meanwhile, ask Shannon about star ratings and recruiting rankings and he says that has nothing to do with the way he evaluates a player.
He reflected back on his stacked Miami defenses that produced a national championship in 2001 and national runner-up finish the next year, and noted that star safety Ed Reed was so lightly recruited that the Hurricanes were competing with Tulane during his recruitment. Shannon found defensive tackle William Joseph at Miami Edison High School and says there was nobody else trying to pry him away at that time. For star linebacker Jonathan Vilma, N.C. State was the biggest obstacle, he recalls.
Shannon’s point is it doesn’t matter who else is recruiting a player or what his star rating is if he identifies potential in the kid, as he did in Brunson.
“You don’t try to (focus on) 2-stars, I don’t know. I look at a guy who plays with a lot of high motor, that has a lot of fast-twitch muscles in him, that plays the game and loves the game. If you can find guys like that all the time you’ll be successful,” Shannon said. “I think those are things that when I was at Miami, and all the years I was at Miami, that’s what we developed. You’ve got to have confidence that if you find a guy that fits what you do and brings something to the table, you coach him, he’s going to be a great player.
“But if you’re always looking for a finished product out of high school, then you’re just going to be just a guy as a coach. A guy who can’t develop. And then if you don’t develop, now you’re just looking at a guy that’s a 5-star guy that’s probably disgruntled, upset, mad and he’s not playing and he’s not playing very good.”
Brunson is eager to prove Shannon right again, eager to prove Florida got a steal when it signed him and he’s not the only one who thinks so.
Lakatriona Brunson, who knows a little something about battling perception and preconceived expectations, believes the linebacker’s stock is only going to keep climbing as he applies his work ethic and abilities to the structure and coaching he’ll receive in Gainesville.
“I’m looking forward to him doing big things at Florida,” she said.
- Oct 6, 2016
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Hope the kid succeeds but RSs track record on projects and specials isn't good. I expect this kid to have the same impact as Rayshad or leave.
