2012 Recruiting Rundown: Latroy Pittman

Over the next two weeks, we at Ode will be documenting the 2012 Gator football recruiting class beginning with the first recruit signed, Latroy Pittman. Following that, we will talk about which of the top players being recruited have Florida high on their list.
Here we go, enjoy!

Latroy Pittman
Wide receiver
North Marion High School (Citra, Fla)
6'0", 195 pounds
40-yard dash: 4.64 seconds
Vertical jump: 30.5 inches


Position Rankings
ESPN: #15
Rivals: #37
Scout: #47

The Skinny
The upside on Pittman is his size, strength and quickness. His tapes show the ability to overpower DBs, catch the ball in traffic and make plays on the ball while it is in the air. He uses his hands well to go get the ball. He has played safety and returned kicks so he is not afraid to mix it up. As a sophomore, Pittman had 35 catches for 612 yards and seven touchdowns. He also plays safety and returns kicks.
The knock on Pittman is he doesn’t have great speed and has a tendency to run imprecise routes, rounding them off and using his muscle to get position. He will have to clean that up in the SEC as the competition will be able to shut that down.
Look for Pittman to be more of a possession receiver with abilities similar to Carl Moore or Omarius Hines.

Jenkins lands at North Alabama

Former Gator cornerback Janoris Jenkins has signed with Division II North Alabama. Former Auburn coach Terry Bowden is the coach at North Alabama.

No. 1 High School kicker commits to Florida

The Gators received a verbal committment Wednesday from the No. 1 rated kicker in the nation. Austin Hardin had offers from Georgia and Tennessee. Hardin will immediatelt be installed as the kickoff specialist. At the gator camp on Wednesday he averaged 75 yards per kickoff with a 4.1 hang time. He made every PAT his senior season and kicked a 59-yarder with three seconds to play to win one game.

Recruiting update

The Gators are working on three top recruits that can bring some excitement to the 2012 class and make it a potential No. 1 class.

1. The Gators had Alabama native Beniquez Brown (ATH) in for a visit and he came in very impressed with what he saw.
Here is Brown's 2010 highlights:



2. The Gators got an up-close glimpse of Alton "Pig" Howard (ATH) at a recent camp and they liked what they saw. He has great speed, moves, hands and an instinct for going after the ball while its in the air.
Here is a video of Howard's highlights:



3. The Gators have set their sites on the No. 11 Rivals rated player, Dante Fowler, an LB/DE prospect, who is currently committed to the Seminoles. Fowler was impressed with what he saw and is coming back for more visits.
Here is his highlight reel:

Wuerffel diagnosed with rare disorder of the nervous system

Gator Heismann winning quarterback Danny Wuerffel has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder of the nervous system that causes the body to attack its immune system. The disease was diagnosed early and his doctor is confident of a complete recovery.

Gators add 12th commit for 2012

The Gators picked up their second linebacker commit for the 2012 class - Lorenzo Phillips, a 6-1, 200-lb Louisana native who earlier committed to Teaxas A&M.

Here is the 2012 class so far:
LaTroy Pittman, North Marion (FL), ATH, 6-1, 201
Dante Phillips, Venice (FL), DT, 6-6, 265
Matt Jones, Armwood Seffner (FL), RB, 6-3, 225
Mike Davis, Stephenson (Stone Mountain, Ga.), RB, 5-11, 185
Jeremi Powell, Pinellas Park (FL), OLB, 6-2, 200
Jessamen Dunker, Boynton Beach (FL), OL, 6-6, 315
JaFar Mann, Stephenson (Stone Mountain, Ga.), DT, 6-4, 275
Quinteze Williams, Sandy Creek (Tyrone, Ga.), DT, 6-4, 295
Willie Bailey, Hallandale (FL), CB, 6-2, 165
Colin Thompson, Archbishop Wood (Warminster, Pa.), TE, 6-5, 255
Brian Poole, Southeast Bradenton (FL), DB, 5-11, 187
Lorenzo Phillips, Patterson (Patterson, La.), OLB, 6-1, 200

Gators might be getting some O-Line help this Fall

Dan Wenger, a fifth-year senior from Notre Dame who was recruited and played for Charlie Weis, is reportedly transferring to Florida in time to play for the Gators this Fall. Wenger started 13 games at center in 2008 before switching to guard, but only played one game at guard due to injuries.

Tennessee Blog adds new feature

The folks at "Checkerboard Chatter", a blog about Tennessee Volunteer football, have started a new feature that I think is a great idea: "Interview with the enemy." We at Ode participated in the Q&A session, which was just posted on their site. I suggest bookmarking this site-it is always a good idea to keep up on the SEC competition and what their fans are saying and thinking. I also want to thank Derek Lusk for inviting me to be a part of his new feature! I enjoyed participating.

Gators return nearly all of their TD makers

An interesting post appears in ESPN's SEC blog with a list of all the people who scored TDs for the SEC teams in 2010. Florida is right up there at the top. Even with their poor offensive showing in 2010, just 43 offensive TDs-12 passing, 31 rushing, the Gators return the folks responsible for 41 of them. Only Arkansas and Mississippi State have that many TDs coming back. Where do the SEC favorites rank? Alabama has 27 and LSU, 19. The bad news for the East is the Gamecocks have 39 coming back.

ESPN Blog: Florida a dark horse for SEC Title

ESPN SEC blogger Edward Aschoff picks three teams he feels are dark horses to win the SEC Title. Mississippi State, Georgia and Florida. Florida may be looked at more favorably if they had not experienced the offensive woes they had last season and if they weren't installing a totally new system. Aschoff points out the Gators have a lot of talent and what looks like a dominant front 7 heading into the Fall. We will see, afterall who had Auburn winning it all in 2010?

Demps has freakish talent

ESPN's Bruce Feldman released his top 10 College Football Freaks of 2011 yesterday and Jeff Demps is listed No. 1 because of his incredible speed (10.1 in the 100). You can access the entire article if you have ESPN Insider. Here is an excerpt from Feldman's story:

"Demps -- who led the Gators in rushing last season with 551 yards despite missing some time due to a foot injury -- arrived at Florida weighing 170 pounds, and is expected to play this fall at 188. Gators strength coach Mickey Marotti says the back can squat "an ungodly amount of weight." And despite the added pounds, Demps has gotten faster. "He was a 10.1 guy, is now a 9.9 guy and probably will be a 9.8 guy," said Marotti, who adds that Demps has really improved his acceleration."

Rounding out the list are:

2. LSU RB Mike Ford - benches 435; vertical leap of 42"

3. Texas WR Marquis Goodman - long jumps 26 feet, 93/4 inches

4. Syracuse WR Dorian Graham - at 185 lbs he can hang clean 341 and runs a 4.31 40

5. Troy LB Kanorris Davis - at 203 pounds he benches 225 nearly 50 times; vertical leap of 42"; runs 4.4 40

6. Georgia Tech ILB Julian Burnett - 600-pound squat; 350 power clean; 460 bench

7. North Carolina WR Jheranie Boyd - scored 312 on Max Jones Quad (look it up, very impressive)

8. Illinois FB Jay Prosch - power cleans 382; hang cleans 401; benches 405 for two reps

9. Boise State RB Doug Martin - at 205 pounds he benches 405; hang cleans 374; squats 530 and runs 4.42 40

10. Cincy P Pat O'Donnell - broad-jumps 9-2; 10-yard split of 1.53 faster than Demps

ESPN's SEC Spring Wrap

ESPN is breaking down the Spring sessions for each of the SEC teams. Here is the link to the Gators: http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/22634/florida-spring-wrap-2. It is pretty much what most Gator fans already know. We should have a really good defense, even though we have some holes (Janoris Jenkins and Ahmad Black) to fill. The offense is a big question mark because it performed so poorly last year and in the Spring game, plus it lost most of its offensive line. But hey, anything can happen with Charlie Weis calling the shots on offense.
Her is a link to the SEC Blog where you can read about all the Spring wrapups: http://espn.go.com/blog/sec

Enjoy!

Powell, Floyd and Easley

We heard a lot about the talents of Ronald Powell, Dominique Easley and Shariff Floyd last year, but the hype never materialized on the field. All three had very solid springs and look to make Florida a much better defensive team in the fall. Here is an ESPN.com video of former Gainesville Sun staffer Edward Aschoff talking about the maturation of these three prospects.

Gators add coveted tight end to 2012 class

The Gators added Scout.com's No. 3 ranked tight end to their haul for 2012. Colin Thompson is a prototypical tight end who can block and catch passes and should fit very wel into their new pro style scheme.

Division I playoff

As you know I whole-heartedly endorse a playoff system for D-1 college football. Apparently the discussion has reached the highest levels as the justice department now wants to know why there isn't a playoff for D-1 college football.

Jenkins getting agent

Janoris Jenkins is reportedly looking to sign with an agent and possibly enter the supplemental draft in July where academic and disciplinary casualties have a second chance to be drafted by NFL teams. The problem is the millions Jenkins would have received if he had gone the traditional route has gone "up in smoke." Funny how Cheech and Chong never mentioned how smoking pot could cost you the big bucks.
Speaking of Jenkins, Gator coach Will Muschamp is confident either senior Moses Jenkins or junior Jeremy Brown are quite capable of filling his shoes. If they can't handle the load, he can always turn to a bevy of talented underclassmen in sophomores Jaylen Watkins and Cody Riggs or freshman De'Ante "Pop" Saunders.

Gator sportswriter rates UF 2011 schedule as third toughest in SEC

Gainesville Sun Sportswriter Pat Dooley rated the Gators as having the third toughest schedule this year in the SEC just behind LSU and Auburn. Time will tell how tough the schedule really is, but it is shaping up as the toughest schedule for the Gators since their 2005 national title year.

Speaking of Dooley, he has weighed in on the whole "Meyer going to OSU" specualtion running rampant right now with a resounding "No he won't."

Time for Florida's secondary to step up

The season has yet to start and the Florida defense is already facing a big test--how will they plug the hole left by the dismisall of All-SEC corner Janoris Jenkins. The guys behind Jenkins have some experience, but are they capable of shutting down elite wide receivers like Jenkins is known for doing. Former GatorSports blogger Edward Aschoff talks about the secondary in his new ESPN role as SEC blogger in this article:
http://espn.go.com/blog/sec/post/_/id/22072/jenkins-leaves-void-in-gators-secondary

Jenkins dismissed

Will Muschamp dismissed Janoris Jenkins from the team today. In a post yesterday I guessed he would miss 4-6 games. He still could be brought back provided he does all the right things, similar to what Rainey did last year. Although ESPN's Chris Low thinks otherwise.

Gator Bait

A Florida woman returned home Saturday to an unpleasant surprise -- a 7-foot gator had taken up residence in her guest bathroom. It seems he had been eyeing her cats the past few weeks and decided to make a meal out of them.

Another Pouncey first rounder

Miami Herald Sportswriter Mike McCall sees Mike Pouncey going in the first round of the draft. Gator fans who suffered through the year of the bad snap might disagree, but Pouncey is the type of talented, high-motor, quick-footed lineman that the pros love. Plus, he won't have to shotgun it that often in the pros. Prediction: Late first round (20-22)

Meyer for Tressel?

I guess it is to be expected that every time there is an opening at OSU or Notre Dame, Urban Meyer's name comes up. Meyer, just five months removed from retiring a second time as head coach of the Gators, is Beano Cook's nod to replace Tressel at OSU. I know, Tressel is stil the coach for the Buckeyes, but most believe his goose is cooked.
I don't know how malicious Tressel was in his rules violations, it seems more like a parent trying to cover up the bad deeds of his wayward kids than out and out criminal mastermind stuff, but at least one bloggger disagrees.
I can't see Meyer jumping back into the coaching ranks. As they say, timing is everything, and the timing is bad on this one. Meyer should stay out a full two years before entertaining new job offers or his credibility will take a huge hit.

Preseason ranking has Gators at No. 18

College Football Live (ESPN) has the Gators at 18 in their preseason ranking unveiled on Friday. Three SEC team are in the top 10 and seven SEC teams total made the Top 25. They are:
2. Alabama
4. LSU
8. South Carolina
12. Arkansas
18. Florida
21. Mississippi State
22. Auburn

Alabama and LSU I can see in the top 10, but not the Gamecocks. Gators will finish higher than 18 even though they have a brutal schedule in October (Bama, LSU, Auburn and Georgia). I don't see Auburn finishing in the top 25 this year.

Doobie in the ashtray?

Gator corner Janoris Jenkins was arrested last week for the third time (second arrest this year). This time he was sitting in a parked car with a joint in his car's console. His arrest in January was also for marijuana posession. His other arrest was for a fight when police had to taser him to get him under control. Perhaps the weed was to help mellow him out so he didn't get into fights. This will be handled internally and my bet is he will be out 4-6 games. Janoris is probably wishing he would have entered the draft.

Speaking of trouble, the NCAA is all over Ohio State coach Jim Tressel. Anyone taking bets that Tressel will be out of a job pretty soon? My guess is he is gone.

Steve Addazios Flowchart

This playbook may be part of the Gator's problem!
(thanks to Fan Shots)