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Florida Recruiting: Gators announce 2019 early signing day class

By Patrick Schmidt

STARKVILLE, MS - SEPTEMBER 29: Head coach Dan Mullen of the Florida Gators reacts before a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
STARKVILLE, MS - SEPTEMBER 29: Head coach Dan Mullen of the Florida Gators reacts before a game against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium on September 29, 2018 in Starkville, Mississippi. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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Dan Mullen took Florida to a New Year’s Six bowl game in his first season with the Gators and that’s helped the Gators land a top-20 recruiting class.

Florida is used to reeling in big fish when it comes to college football recruiting. When the Gators were winning the SEC on what seemed like an annual basis and competing for national titles, they did so by stacking elite recruiting classes on top of each other.

That hasn’t necessarily been the case in recent years under Jim McElwain. He was able to land highly ranked recruits, such as Martez Ivey and CeCe Jefferson, but loaded classes weren’t exactly his specialty.

In comes Dan Mullen who took over last winter, but didn’t really have time to make his mark on last year’s recruiting class. But he has done so this year with a class that ranks among the 20 best in the nation and in the top five in the SEC.

Mullen was able to recruit well at Mississippi State where he discovered Chris Jones before he blossomed into the No. 2 overall recruit. Now, Mullen is hoping to have even bigger success now that he can recruit with the Gator on his shirt and Florida’s resources and facilities to sway recruits.

Mullen will have better classes in the coming years as they continue to win and compete with Georgia for SEC East supremacy, but he’s put together a real solid class, led by a trio of four-star linebackers.

Diwun Black from Kissimmee, Florida, is the top recruit and the No. 10 inside linebacker, per 247Sports Composite Rankings. Outside linebackers, Tyron Hopper from Georgia and Mohamoud Diabate out of Alabama could represent an intriguing starting three in the coming years for the Gators.

Nay’Quan Wright is the No. 15 running back in the class and the Gators top offensive recruit. Mullen has landed commits from three offensive linemen to help open room for the 5-foot-8 back out of Miami Carol City high school.

It wouldn’t be a Mullen recruiting class without a dual-threat quarterback commit and four-star Jalon Jones from Richmond, VA is the No. 11 player at his position. He’ll compete with Emory Jones to be the quarterback of the near future for the Gators.

Florida 2019 recruiting class

And because it’s never too early to take a look ahead to the 2020 recruiting cycle, things are trending up for Florida. The 2020 class is already among the top five classes with a pair of big defensive linemen and athletes to give Mullen a nice start on next year’s crop of talent.

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