Football Recruiting: Mullen and Florida Gators Win Big During Friday Night Lights

Last Friday night kicked off the biggest weekend of recruiting for the Florida Gators.

Before Florida’s Friday Night Lights football camp could get underway, Dan Mullen and the Gators had already reeled in their first commit of the weekend.

Terrance Gibbs, a 4-star running back out of Winter Park, was one of Florida’s top targets in the upcoming recruiting cycle. Gibbs was offered by some of the top teams in the country, including Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State. The running back was also being heavily recruited by Cadillac Williams out of Auburn.

But on July 30, hours before Florida’s Friday Night Lights camp got underway, Gibbs announced in an exclusive video with GatorSports.com that he’d be staying in-state and playing for Mullen and the Florida Gators.

After announcing his commitment, Gibbs didn’t workout during Florida’s camp. Fortunately for curious Gators fans, Gibbs’ stats speak for themselves.

As a freshman, Gibbs was named to the MaxPreps Freshman All-American team after tallying over 1,500 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns in 2018. During his sophomore season, Gibbs ran just under 1,100 yards for Oviedo High School, which went 9-2 that season.

Last year, after transferring to Winter Park, Gibbs tore his ACL in preseason practices. He’s slated to return to action this month.

Unable to watch Florida’s new pick-up in Gibbs, once camp got underway, all eyes were on Nick Evers, the four-star quarterback out of Texas who had committed to the Gators in March.

Also holding offers from Ole Miss, Auburn and Cincinnati, among others, Evers has become one of, if not the most prominent face of the Gators’ recruiting class.

A member of the Elite 11 roster, Evers can sling a football.

Last season as the starting quarterback for the Flower Mound Jaguars, Evers threw for over 2,500 yards and 21 touchdowns. He added another 218 yards and five touchdowns on the ground.

And between him and his mother Monica, who has also been quite the social media recruiter for the Gators since her son committed, Evers has stayed in the ear of other players around the country that Mullen is targeting.

Perhaps number one on Mullen and Evers’ list is blue-chip receiver Evan Stewart.

Evers (right) and Stewart (left) during last week's visit. Courtesy of Evers' Twitter.

Stewart, who also comes out of Texas, is ranked as the No. 1 wide receiver in the 2022 recruiting class.

With the hometown Texas Longhorns pursuing Stewart hard, the Texan made a head-turning appearance at Friday Night Lights.

Despite there being other quarterbacks participating at the camp, if Stewart was running a route, Evers was the one delivering the pass. And anytime the two lined up, it seemed as though magic happened.

Stewart has a helluva release from the line and Evers can deliver passes where only his receiver can come away with it.

The two Texans really put on quite a show:

The receiver-quarterback duo have chemistry from being on the same 7-on-7 team in Texas. They believe in each other. And it showed on Friday night.

Since completing the camp, Evers has said that he is lobbying hard to get Stewart to join him in The Swamp. And Stewart has since said that Evers is the only quarterback that he works with that has already committed to a team and that of course it plays a role in his recruiting process.

Dan Mullen spent a lot of time chatting with Stewart on Friday night. Former Gators Ahmad Black, Major Wright and Brandon Spikes also paid Stewart a visit as they helped the defensive prospects at the camp.

While Gibbs, Evers and Stewart drew most of the attention on Friday night, the Gators hosted countless other commits and picked up other commitments for the 2023 and 2024 recruiting classes.

Julian Humphrey, Jamarrien Burt and CJ Hawkins, all commits for this upcoming cycle, were all in The Swamp on Friday night.

Humphrey and Burt, both defensive backs, each had solid showings. While CJ Hawkins, a tight end, got lots of one-on-one work with Florida’s tight ends coach, Tim Brewster.

For many, the Gators’ 27th-ranked 2022 recruiting class has been nothing to write home about. But after watching some of the guys in action, especially if Florida can land Stewart, rest assured -- the Gators are in good shape.