With dead period over, Florida staff hits recruiting trail in full force

Join us here on SEC Country for a daily recap of the latest Florida recruiting news, tales from the trail and perspective on what it all means for the Gators.

Crunch time for Florida recruiting

The spring to National Signing Day begins now for college coaches across the country. 

The contact period resumes Friday and Florida is hitting the road in full force. The Gators will not host any official visitors this weekend so they can focus their efforts on the recruiting trail.  

Florida coaches all over the country today looking for some Gators to bring to the swamp! 👀🐊🐊🐊

— Lee Begley (@leewdavis17) January 12, 2018

Florida coach Dan Mullen inked 13 commits during the early signing period and met his needs at quarterback, running, tight end, safety and place kicker.

Now Mullen turns his attention to the remaining holes in Florida’s 2018 class.

“You’re going to look at the needs, look at the pool, see who fits, and really reset recruiting and get out there and start getting after it again,” Mullen said of his approach to the final month. “Certainly corner is going to be a big need for us, defensive line, outside linebacker, offensive line and wide receiver are going to be really the emphasis moving forward. … We’ll be recruiting everybody.

“What we’re doing is finding guys that we think fit our program, both with their character, their work ethic and their talent. So if you check those boxes and we have the position need, we’re not going to hold back. But we’re not going to fill spots just to fill a spot. … We’re going to go find guys that we feel are going to help us take the program to the championship level.”

RELATED: Breakdown of Florida’s top targets at positions of need

The Gators hired their 10th assistant Thursday, tabbing Mississippi State safeties coach Ron English for the same position. Mullen now has a full staff to recruit for the January contact period, something his predecessor never did.

Former Florida coach Jim McElwain was understaffed in 2015 (Kerry Dixon II), 2016 (Torrian Gray) and 2017 (Corey Bell, Brad Davis and Ja’Juan Seider). Not only is Mullen’s staff at capacity, but he has an extra assistant as well.

News & notes

• Florida extended offers Thursday to JUCO defensive tackle Emmit Gooden and 5-star athlete Bru McCoy, a 2019 prospect. Gooden is ranked the nation’s No. 7 DT and No. 19 overall recruit in the 247Sports Composite JUCO rankings, while McCoy checks in as the No. 1-ranked athlete and No. 11 overall recruit in the Class of 2019. Gooden was previously committed to Arkansas under Florida’s new assistant director of player personnel, E.K. Franks. The Gators are pushing to get him on campus for an official visit.
• The Gators will host 3-star defensive Caleb Johnson for an official visit on Jan. 19. Johnson was offered by the previous staff and visited UF last spring. He officially visits Georgia this weekend.