Gators, Rebels lagging in latest SEC recruiting cycle

Before Nick Saban's ongoing decade of dominance on the recruiting trail as Alabama's football coach, there was another Southeastern Conference power that racked up its share of top-ranked classes.

The Florida Gators were once a standard to surpass on national signing day, and that was regardless of whether Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook or Urban Meyer was the coach. Will Muschamp posted three consecutive top-10 classes at Florida from 2012 to 2014, including the No. 3 crop in 2013 that included defensive tackle Caleb Brantley, cornerback Vernon Hargreaves and safety Keanu Neal, but the Gators are on pace to post their lowest ranking since prominent recruiting services such as Rivals.com and Scout.com began in 2002.

Florida entered this weekend with the No. 23 class according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. This will be Jim McElwain's third crop of signees in Gainesville, with his first two having been ranked 21st and 12th nationally.

"It's a hot topic, for sure, and I think part of it is that the in-state competition is always incredible in Florida," ESPN recruiting analyst Derek Tyson said. "Florida State has been on a great run in recent years, and now you've got Mark Richt at Miami, and they're getting some guys. There are also teams from outside the state like Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State and Clemson, which has always done well in the state of Florida.

"There is just a tremendous amount of competition in this state."

Alabama has three of the Sunshine State's top five prospects not only committed but signed, while Florida State and Ohio State each has three of the top 10. Florida does not have a pledge from a single top-100 national prospect - Tampa defensive end Zachary Carter (No. 127) is the highest - but it is not the only SEC school that is struggling.

Ole Miss, which had the nation's No. 5 class last year and No. 8 in 2013, entered this weekend ranked 46th.

"It's definitely a down year for Ole Miss at this point," Tyson said. "They've had a lot of turnover on their coaching staff, and that obviously hurts. It's not an awful class, but it's not what we've come to see from Ole Miss recently.

"The NCAA investigation is definitely scaring recruits away. If there is a significant scholarship loss and bowl bans, then things could continue on a downward spin, but if it's not much more than what they've already self-imposed, then I think they will catch back up."

Morton receiver D.D. Bowie is the only top-15 Magnolia State prospect currently committed to the Rebels, though a couple of others could join him.

Florida's class ranks just ninth among SEC teams, and the Gators are headed for a third-place finish among Sunshine State programs for the first time since 2005. Florida has just 15 commitments in a class expected to grow to nearly 25, and adding Fort Lauderdale guard Tedarrell Slaton (No. 69 nationally in the 247Sports composite rankings) and Lakeland receiver James Robinson (No. 114) would certainly give the Gators a boost.

"Don't worry, Gator fans," former Florida cornerback Teez Tabor felt the need to post on Twitter several months ago. "It's not about how you start but how you finish."

McElwain's start on the field has been a positive for Florida, which went 11-13 in Muschamp's final two years. The Gators are the two-time defending Eastern Division champions despite Georgia being the overwhelming pick to win the division in 2015 and Tennessee last summer.

Yet Florida lags behind Tennessee and well behind Georgia in this year's recruiting cycle.

"You have to have the right assistant coaches to recruit the state," Tyson said. "You need some bulldogs on the recruiting trail, and right now I think Florida has a couple of good recruiters, but they really need to identify a strong recruiter. Florida State is going to continue to do well, and teams like Alabama and Clemson are going to keep coming down.

"They have to make some adjustments on their staff to get more aggressive recruiters."

Florida had the nation's top-ranked recruiting class in 2003, which was after Zook's first full year on the job, with that crop headed by quarterback Chris Leak, receivers Andre Caldwell and Chad Jackson and defensive end Jarvis Moss. Meyer's first full recruiting cycle in 2006 produced a class that ranked No. 2 behind Southern California but may have been the best in program history, yielding quarterback Tim Tebow, receiver Percy Harvin, defensive end Jermaine Cunningham, linebacker Brandon Spikes and offensive linemen Carl Johnson and Marcus Gilbert.

Meyer produced No. 1 classes again in 2007 (Carlos Dunlap, Aaron Hernandez, John Brantley and Cam Newton) and in 2010 (Ronald Powell, Dominique Easley, Sharrif Floyd and Matt Elam), which was the only year since 2008 that Saban didn't bring the top-rated class to Tuscaloosa.

Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.