Dan Mullen Has the Florida Gators Ahead of the Transfer Curve
It began with Van Jefferson, one of several Ole Miss Rebels who took flight following an NCAA investigation that brought down Hugh Freeze’s house of cards in Oxford. A 4-star receiver when recruited out of Ravenwood High School in Brentwood, Tennessee, Jefferson was known at Ole Miss for exact route running and sure hands, but he was still the fourth option on a team loaded with future pros like A.J. Brown, D.K. Metcalf and DaMarcus Lodge on the outside and future pro tight end Dawson Webb getting all the middle of the field routes.
Probation which gave a transfer instant eligibility and the firing of Freeze made the business decision to transfer from Ole Miss relatively easy. When Dan Mullen took over at Florida in December of 2017 Jefferson saw opportunity, particularly since Mullen was bringing along with him from Mississippi State wide receivers coach Billy Gonzales.
It was the perfect fit. Jefferson not only thrived in the football culture Mullen established but he perfected his skills as an outside receiver – he played in the slot at Ole Miss where he caught 91 passes for 999 yards and four TDs – who could get open downfield. At Florida, even though he shared the catches with three other receivers who played for pay in 2020 and three others who are about to be drafted in April, Jefferson caught 84 passes for 1,160 yards and 12 touchdowns in the 2018-19 seasons.
It propelled Jefferson into a second round selection by the Los Angeles Rams in the spring 2020 NFL Draft.
Meanwhile, up in Columbus, Ohio, Trevon Grimes needed to be closer to his home in Fort Lauderdale. A St. Thomas Aquinas product, Grimes had a 4-star ranking and was one of the hottest high school receivers in the country when he chose Ohio State, but some health issues in his family created a need to transfer somewhere closer to home. With the blessings of Urban Meyer, he chose Florida, which just happened to be coached by Mullen, who was Meyer’s offensive coordinator for two national championship teams at UF.
This was another perfect fit. The Mullen offense combined with Gonzales pushing all the right buttons, teaching him the finer points of route running and how to become a physical downfield blocker, made for the perfect landing spot and an outstanding three-year career. His resume at UF is 97 catches for 1,444 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Grimes figures to be a third or fourth round choice when the NFL drafts in April.
Edge rusher Jonathan Greenard missed the entire 2018 season at Louisville with a knee injury. Complicating matters, head coach Bobby Petrino was fired and a new coaching staff was coming in. Florida was Greenard’s dream school when he played high school football in Hiram, Georgia, but the then 3-star prospect didn’t get a scholarship offer from the Gators. When it came time to leave Louisville, he knew he would be a good fit for the Gators since the defensive coordinator was Todd Grantham, the same coach who recruited him to Louisville back in 2015.
Greenard already knew Grantham’s system so the transition was seamless. He became Florida’s big play guy off the edge for a 2019 defense that finished top ten nationally, earning All-SEC honors with 52 tackles, 9.5 sacks, 15.5 tackles for loss and a long touchdown run after picking up a fumble against Vanderbilt. As important as his production on the field was his presence in the locker room. It didn’t take long for Greenard to establish himself as the mature guy who could keep it real when things got chaotic, but also that guy who could get in the face of someone about to lose it and settle things down.
Greenard parlayed his senior season at Florida into a third round selection by the Houston Texans in the 2020 NFL draft.
Little did Jefferson, Grimes and Greenard know when they opted out of their previous schools to transfer to Florida that they would be cornerstones in what has become a definitive recruiting strategy for Dan Mullen. When he arrived at Florida in December of 2017, Mullen saw holes in the roster that needed to be filled and while there was some outstanding young talent left behind by the previous coaching staff, there was a need to win now, not later. So began an active foray into the world of transfers.
When Mullen brought in Grimes and Jefferson in that first year, followed by Greenard in the second, he saw how he could get immediate on-the-field productivity while at the same time plugging holes in his roster. One thing for sure, Mullen knows and understands that the foundation for a strong football program was, is and will always be high school kids mixed in with an occasional junior college transfer such as DiWun Black, a stud linebacker who will arrive at UF in May, but your typical 18-year-old freshman needs time to develop. If the foundation isn’t yet sturdy enough to provide a next man up for a depleted position, the transfer portal can offer the possibility to bring in an experienced plug-and-play guy.
Brenton Cox Jr. wasn’t able to provide immediate help when he transferred in from Georgia in 2019 – the NCAA and/or the SEC didn’t approve his waiver request so he had to sit out – but he was the fourth transfer of the Mullen era. On the scout team in 2019, the former 5-star recruit out of Stockbridge, Georgia, Cox terrorized Florida quarterbacks off the edge daily in practice. In 2020, Cox flashed the kind of potential that could make him a first or second rounder if he continues his development. Always commanding a double team because he was Florida’s only consistent threat to get pressure, Cox still had 4.0 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and 18 quarterback hurries. He seems poised for a monster 2021.
From his Mississippi State days, Mullen already knew the value of transfers although most of the ones who played for him during those nine years in Starkville came via the junior college route. With Florida’s stringent academic requirements, there will only be an occasional junior college kid. That is a policy set in stone dating back before Steve Spurrier, but transfers are completely different. There is a track record both on the field and academically to help decide if a kid is a good fit. So far, Mullen has lived a charmed life when it comes to deciding who fits best.
The success Mullen has had with transfers at Florida has caused a change in recruiting strategy. Starting in 2020, Mullen began keeping scholarships open for transfers. Six joined the Gators last season although two came as walk-ons.
Familiarity had everything to do with Florida landing offensive lineman Stewart Reese out of Mississippi State. Recruited by Mullen and John Hevesy as a 3-star guard out of Fort Pierce in 2016, he wound up starting three seasons and playing and starting at both guard and both tackle positions. When Mississippi State changed coaches after the 2019 season, Reese looked for a new landing spot as a graduate transfer. The presence of Mullen and Hevesy plus the chance to play with baby brother David Reese, a 2018 linebacker recruit to UF, made Florida the natural choice.
The global pandemic halted team and summer conditioning in 2020 and Reese gained weight. It was originally thought he would play right tackle, which was manned by Jean Delance, a former 4-star recruit who had transferred to UF from Texas prior to Mullen’s arrival. But, the extra weight forced Reese inside. Since the NCAA voided 2020 on every player’s eligibility sheet, Reese is coming back for the 2021 season, hopefully somewhere around 340, which is his ideal playing weight.
Reese was joined in a 2020 Florida transfer class by former 5-stars Justin Shorter (Penn State) and Lorenzo Lingard (Miami), former 3-stars Jordan Pouncey (Texas) and Noah Keeter (UCLA), and former 2-star Zach Sessa (Georgia Southern).
Without the benefit of a spring practice to learn the Florida system and get coached up by Gonzales, Shorter still caught 25 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns in 2020. With Kyle Pitts, Kadarius Toney and Grimes moving on to the NFL, Shorter should project into a go-to type on the outside in 2021.
Lingard, who suffered a devastating knee injury at Miami, needed to be closer to his ailing father in DeLand, so he transferred to Florida. The combination of Covid-19 and a high ankle sprain limited him to spot duty on special teams and a handful of carries in 2020. If he’s healthy in 2021, he could move to the slot where his sprinter’s speed could make him a nightmare to cover.
Pouncey, who spent two years buried on the Texas wide receiver depth chart, a came to Florida to join younger brother Ethan, a 4-star corner out of Winter Park who missed all of 2020 after an injury in August. Pouncey saw limited action in 2020, but did catch a 27-yard touchdown pass against Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl. He will have a chance to earn plenty of playing time in 2021. Keeter, a scholarship linebacker at UCLA who is a native of Gainesville, chose to walk on at Florida after one year in Westwood. He came to Florida at 225, has put on 15-20 pounds of muscle on his 6-6 frame, and figures to eventually settle in at defensive end. Sessa, a kicker who signed with Georgia Southern in 2020, transferred to UF in the summer and sat out 2020. He has since put his name in the transfer portal.
The NCAA’s rather complicated scholarship rules allow for 25 signees a year, but when the previous class is under-signed and there are early enrollees, it changes the numbers dynamic. Florida, for example, had 29 signing slots available for 2021. When the early signing period ended in December, the Gators had letters of intent signed by 21 high school kids and one juco. Early enrollees allowed for 29 total slots for the 2021 class.
When the second National Signing Day concluded on Wednesday, Mullen didn’t add a single high school or junior college player but four transfers were announced – former 5-star running back Demarkcus Bowman (Clemson), former 4-star defensive tackle Daquan Newkirk (Auburn), former 3-star defensive tackle Antonio Shelton (Penn State), former 2-star defensive end Dylan Meeks (Akron) and Jace Christmann, the leading scorer in Mississippi State football history. They will be joined by at least one more transfer, former 5-star tight end Arik Gilbert (LSU).
Bowman was the one that got away in 2020. An explosive runner, the best back to come out of Lakeland High School since former Gator Chris Rainey, Bowman needed only a few months in Clemson to decide he needed to go home. Although he spurned Florida for Clemson, when Bowman decided he wanted to be a Gator, Mullen greeted him with open arms. Bowman gives the Gators take it the distance from anywhere on the field ability that has been missing in the offense.
The highest rated tight end in modern recruiting history, Gilbert chose LSU in 2020 and had an outstanding freshman season – 35 catches for 368 yards and two touchdowns – but turmoil on the coaching staff combined with the lack of a definitive plan on how to use him, opened him up for transfer. With the hiring of a new offensive staff, Coach O thought Gilbert might come back to Baton Rouge. Because he’s from Marietta, Georgia was confident it would be the choice. Gilbert chose Florida, however, for three basic reasons: (1) Mullen has a creative offense that uses the tight end all over the field; (2) the tight ends coach is Tim Brewster who has coached two Mackey Award winners and was the position coach in the NFL for the great Antonio Gates; and (3) Mackey Award winner Kyle Pitts told him how Mullen used him in mismatch situations.
Newkirk, who prepped at The First Academy in Orlando, comes to UF as a graduate transfer who offers size (317 pounds) and mobility in the middle of the D-line. Shelton, originally from Columbus, Ohio, started at nose tackle at Penn State. Like Newkirk, he is a graduate transfer who figures to play immediately as Grantham retools his defense after a rough year. Meeks, who played high school ball at Dr. Phillips in Orlando, is a grad transfer who figures to provide depth.
When Evan McPherson surprisingly elected to declare for the NFL, Christmann was available to give the Gators an experienced kicker for 2021. He is another graduate transfer and, like Reese, has a track record with Mullen. He was Mullen’s placekicker at Mississippi State in 2017 when he hit 12-14 field goals. Upon leaving Mississippi State, Christmann had hit 32-42 field goal attempts and 122-123 of his extra points.
There are two open slots in the current recruiting class, both of which Mullen intends to use for transfers. One of those could be Deyavie Hammond, a 355-pound offensive guard and former 4-star Florida signee from Lakeland. When he didn’t meet the academic requirements to enter UF in 2019, he went the junior college route. If he completes his juco work satisfactorily in May, he may transfer to UF. If Hammond doesn’t get in or is no longer considered a need recruit, Mullen will go after an offensive lineman, preferably a tackle. The other slot will probably be filled by a wide receiver or an offensive lineman.
Transfers have become such an integral part of Mullen’s recruiting strategy and with the NCAA set to approve legislation this spring that will allow an athlete to transfer once without having to sit out, the already jam-packed transfer portal (more than 1,600 in it presently) will all but explode. For a school like Florida, which has made three consecutive New Years Six bowl games and competes in the Southeastern Conference, it will be a buyer’s market. The combination of coaching, weather, academics and playing in the Southeastern Conference will make UF one of the more attractive landing spots. Because of Mullen’s success with transfers, there will be far more transfers wanting Florida than Mullen has available spots. That isn’t true everywhere, but it is true for Florida.
The Gators aren’t immune to transfers – a few who were buried on the depth chart such as running back Iverson Clement and corner Chester Kimbrough have elected to seek opportunity elsewhere. Because they are from Florida and the SEC, they will have more scholarship opportunities than kids from non-Power Five schools. There are estimates that upwards of 40 percent of all who enter the transfer portal won’t have a scholarship offer, a problem that will be exacerbated by the NCAA ruling that 2020 won’t count against the eligibility of any player who was on a Division I roster. Some schools, it is estimated, could have as many as 100 players on scholarship in 2021. Those inflated numbers will reduce scholarship offers for transfers. They’ve already reduced opportunities for high school kids as schools struggle financially after the disaster of a pandemic year. The cost of more players on scholarship than the 85-limit has already forced some schools to offer fewer scholarships in 2021 to help ease the financial strain.
Florida has four returning seniors who are taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility – Reese, Delance, linebacker Jeremiah Moon and wide receiver Rick Wells – and there will be no scrambling to come up with the funds to cover their scholarships but that isn’t true everywhere. Not every athletic department has the financial wherewithal of Florida.
Meanwhile, the NCAA still hasn’t figured out a way to adequately deal with the monster it created by adding that extra year of eligibility. Florida, for example, just signed 21 to its incoming freshman recruiting class. Of the 2020 signees, 21 are still with the team, so looking forward there are 42 freshmen and an 85-scholarship limit. Unless the NCAA comes up with a strategy to deal with this potential problem, there will be fewer scholarships available for high school kids for a couple of years followed by a potential disaster in which more than half the roster departs.
The SEC has proposed a moratorium on counting scholarships for all those who were on a Division I roster in 2020. So far that hasn’t gotten much traction, but of the many proposals that are out there it might be the most workable. Some of the other proposals deal with transfers and early declarations for the NFL, but none of them have garnered much support. This is a time for answers and for some creative thinking but there hasn’t been much in the way of that coming from the NCAA.
Uncertainty about class size, scholarship numbers and eligibility moving forward is going to be a dilemma that will be supercharged by the amount of kids choosing free agency in the future. Oversized freshman classes are going to lead to more transfers than anyone could anticipate but how to deal with them? So far, Florida has only benefitted from the transfer market because Dan Mullen has turned picking and choosing kids who are good fits into an art form.
While Florida has gained significant help from transfers the last three years, those who have departed haven’t made a serious mark at their new landing spots. That could change in the future because Florida may not be immune to the roster management issues that are going to be prevalent throughout college football. A coming tidal wave of transfers – both coming and going – is going to require a coach with experience in such matters.
We don’t know what the future is going to bring although some predict the next two to three years will be like the wild, wild west when it comes to off-the-field issues in college football. What we do know is that by getting an early start in dealing with the mass migration that is happening in the sport, Dan Mullen is ahead of the curve. If he can remain ahead of the curve, it will be a huge advantage for Florida football.
TRANSFERS ON FLORIDA’S 2021 ROSTER Jean Delance, OT/OG (Texas) Stewart Reese, OT/OG (Mississippi State) Daquan Newkirk, DT (Auburn) Antonio Shelton, DT (Penn State) Dylan Meeks, DE (Akron) Jace Christmann, PK (Mississippi State) Justin Shorter, WR (Penn State) Brenton Cox Jr., DE/LB (Georgia) Lorenzo Lingard, RB (Miami) Jordan Pouncey, WR (Texas) Noah Keeter, LB (UCLA) Demarkcus Bowman, RB (Clemson) Arik Gilbert, TE (LSU)
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