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When the Florida Gators staff comes to town the townspeople ring the alarm.
Hide your wives!
Hide your children!
Most important, hide your verbal commitments!
The Gators have targeted several highly-touted prospects committed to other programs in the recent weeks and are looking for several of them to flip and join the house that Jim McElwain is trying to build in Gainesville.
They’ve already gotten top quarterback prospect Feleipe Franks from LSU and are still trying to steal quarterback Jacob Eason (son of Tony Eason … but not the NFL QB Tony Eason you are thinking of) from Georgia.
Here are five other committed prospects that the Florida staff are trying to win over.
Janarius Robinson, DE (committed to Florida State): There’s nothing Gator fans love more than stealing one from their hated rivals in Tallahassee. Some work out (Dante Fowler, Mike and Maurkice Pouncey) while others (Treon Harris, Ryan Souza) are still trying to find their way.
Robinson, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound pass rusher from Panama City, Fla., is not only a very talented prospect but also a big need for the Seminoles, which means the Gators can mess up FSU’s recruiting class and their depth chart with one move. Alabama is also pushing for the four-star prospect while FSU is doing whatever it takes to keep him. (Update: Robinson solidified his commitment to FSU after in-house visits from FSU coach Jimbo Fisher and Florida coach Jim McElwain.)
Sam Bruce, WR (committed to Miami): Florida needs receivers desperately and the nephew of former St. Louis Rams star Isaac Bruce would be a perfect fit in the slot for McElwain’s offense. The Gators have made a hard push for the four-star prospect but the 5-foot-9, 180-pound speedster has stayed loyal to Miami. But he has four official visits left (took one to Ohio State in October) and Florida is in line to get one.
Eddy Pineiro, PK (committed to Alabama): Florida’s kicking game was awful this year. They couldn’t kick field goals, extra points, got punts blocked … it was just a disaster. And a day after a disheartening 27-2 loss to Florida State, McElwain decided enough was enough and went on a joyride with the nation’s top kicker Eddy Pineiro.
With a great coach and a great man ridding around Gainesville @CoachMcElwain pic.twitter.com/WuMNF5eliK
— Eddy Piñeiro (@EddyPineiro) November 29, 2015
Pineiro, a 6-1, 180-pound prospect out of Miami, has one of the more entertaining twitter feeds (@eddypineiro1) around as he’ll consistently put out videos of him kicking 70+ yard field goals. He’s taking his official to Alabama this weekend and the guess is Nick Saban isn’t going to let him walk without a fight.
Eli Stove, WR (committed to Auburn): As we stated before Florida REALLY needs wide receivers and Stove, a 6-foot-1, 180-pound pass catcher from Niceville, Fla., fits the bill as a player who can play in the slot or on the outside. He’s been committed to Auburn since the spring and seems pretty solid, but if the top 100 prospect takes an official to Florida all bets are off.
Braden Kopp, OL (committed to Vanderbilt): When McElwain arrived at Florida they barely had enough offensive linemen on scholarship to get through the spring. He tried to patchwork things for the year and as the season went on the group got exposed with the lowlight being the starting right tackle getting one-armed chucked by freshman defensive back Derwin James in a GIF that went viral in about 10 minutes.
https://twitter.com/CineFunk/status/670790404258856961
Kopp, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound prospect out of Houston, could play at several positions on the line and give the Gators much-needed depth. Kopp is expected to take an official to Gainesville in January.
Corey Long is a freelance writer for SaturdayDownSouth.com. Follow Corey on Twitter @CoreyLong.
