The Florida Gators football program has now flipped two offensive commitments from the Clemson Tigers in the last four months after learning Saturday following its final spring practice that four-star 2014 running back Dalvin Cook (Miami, FL) has changed his mind and decided to play college football in Gainesville, FL.

The No. 22 player in the nation originally committed the Tigers on June 13, 2012, but has long had interest in playing for the Gators. Cook visited Florida one week ago and spent two days in Gainesville. He decided to return on Saturday for the 2013 Orange & Blue Debut and made his intentions known that evening.

“It was really great up there and I had a blast,” he told Rivals last week.

Defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson is Cook’s main recruiter and has apparently showed him a great time on consecutive visits. Head coach Will Muscahmp has also been gung-ho on signing the playmaker.

Cook called himself “solid” to Clemson one week ago but is now fully invested at Florida. He also has offers from Alabama, Florida State and Miami, among others.

He is the ninth member of the Gators’ 2014 recruiting class and the team’s second-highest rated player behind four-star quarterback Will Grier (Davidson, NC). Florida now has six Rivals250 pledges as well as five total on the offensive side of the ball and six from the state of Florida.

Cook’s flip was first reported by FOX Sports‘ Amy Campbell.

Tags: Dalvin Cook, Travaris Robinson, Will Grier, Will Muschamp

Through the 2013 NFL Draft from April 25-27, Florida Gators safety and 2012 leading tackler Josh Evans will be keeping fans up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry exclusively here at OGGOA.

Evans’s fifth entry covers his second return to Gainesville, FL during the offseason, the Pro Day workout on Tuesday and what his plans are for the next three weeks as he continues to workout and meet with teams.

I came back up to Gainesville late last week and the first thing I did was settle in to my place and meet up with a massage therapist to get my hamstring rubbed down. It’s just a strain. It’s something I felt during the combine. It’s kind of nagging, but it feels alright. Once I get to top speed, it is sometimes hard to maintain without it giving out. But I’m feeling better each day and we have a phenomenal training staff here at Florida so I know they’ll get me back to 100 percent in no time.

Over the weekend I also worked out a bit, did a few starts and warmed up, nothing too big because the Pro Day was in a couple of days. So I basically just worked on my flexibility and made sure I was good to go. I also met with San Francisco on Monday and had a great talk with them.

A lot of people noticed how I now have a yellow stripe in my hair. I got that done two days ago just to do something a bit different. I don’t plan to have it long, but I wanted to have it for Pro Day because I figured it would definitely help me stand out on the field.

As far as Pro Day goes, I was pretty comfortable the whole time. Any time you come back to your home field, The Swamp, there’s always that comfort you have being around your teammates and seeing the coaching staff you’ve dealt with for the last few years. I did not feel nervous; however, you still want to go out there and perform well in front of the head coaches, general managers and scouts. It was a pretty good day to get out there and run around, and I felt like all went well.

We were all concerned a bit when we first got out there saw it was raining because you don’t want to run on a wet field if you can help it. We try not to use excuses of course, but to be honest, the field was wet. The balls were even wet sometimes. We managed to overcome the obstacle and all performed well.

Continue Reading » Josh Evans – Path to the 2013 NFL Draft: Pro Day

Tags: combine, D.J. Durkin, Draft, Jeff Dillman, Josh Evans, NFL, Pro Day, Travaris Robinson, Will Muschamp

With the Florida Gators set to begin 2013 spring practice on Wednesday, head coach Will Muschamp and new defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin met with the media Tuesday to discuss a variety of topics concerning the team’s defense.

RELATED: Spring depth chart released | Muschamp, Pease on offense

A NEW MAN IN CHARGE…

Durkin will be entering his fourth year as a member of the Gators’ coaching staff but will begin the 2013 season with a brand new task – coordinating a defense. After spending his career as a position coach and special teams coordinator, Durkin is now the man in charge of Florida’s defense and realizes he has plenty of work ahead of him.

» Durkin on becoming the defensive coordinator: “I’m very excited, excited because of the guys I get to work with both players and coaches. I think it’s a great opportunity. I’m very excited about it. It’s a new challenge. I’ve been doing special teams for a while, so any time you do something for that long, you kind of get in your routine and get to the normalcies of it and all that. It’s exciting for me to have a new challenge and some different things to work on and do.”

» Durkin on his defensive philosophy: “The number one thing that it comes down to is, and I think you’ve seen the identity of our defense, what we as a staff want to build here. We want to be tough, blue-collar team. We want to play with unbelievable effort and enthusiasm in what we’re doing. That’s the way I coach. That’s my personality. That’s what I hope I’ve carried over to our special teams while I’m here and it will be the same thing with our defense. We got a great system in place. We’re not changing terminology and all that. Coach Muschamp, it’s his system and he’s a great defensive mind. It’s been great for all of us to learn that system. To me, that is what this game is all about, being a blue-collar team, both mentally and physically tough, playing with great enthusiasm and great attitude. “

Continue Reading » Muschamp, Durkin discuss Florida Gators defense

Tags: Alex Anzalone, Alex McCalister, Antonio Morrison, Austin Hardin, Brad Lawing, Brad Phillips, Brian White, Bryan Cox, Bryant Young, D.J. Durkin, Daniel McMillian, Dante Fowler, Darrin Kitchens, Dominique Easley, Jeremi Powell, Joey Ivie, Joker Phillips, Jonathan Bullard, Kyle Christy, Michael Taylor, Neiron Ball, Ronald Powell, Travaris Robinson, Will Muschamp

Through the 2013 NFL Draft from April 25-27, Florida Gators safety and 2012 leading tackler Josh Evans will be keeping fans up-to-date on his Path to the Draft via a weekly blog entry exclusively here at OGGOA.

Evans’s third entry covers his training regimen over the last two weeks, how he continues to prepare for the 2013 NFL Combine (which begins for him on Saturday), a trip he and Matt Elam took to Gainesville, FL last weekend and how Florida’s defense has prepared him for the next chapter in his playing career.

These last two weeks in training there has been a lot of focus on our 10- and 20-yard splits, seeing how we’ve improved from the start of camp and making some final adjustments to our body positioning. I’ve seen a lot of progress as far as where I was at the first week to where I’m at now. I’m getting off the line a lot quicker with much better form and it is showing up in the final times.

It’s crazy to see how much I’ve improved in the defensive back drills, cone drills, the figure-eight drills and the pro shuttle. Learning the new techniques and being taught how to explode out and plant my foot has really made a difference. In the past, I was just using my speed and talent to do a drill. Proper technique is much more important and can help get time down because you are being more productive in your movements.

It’s totally different doing these drills now then during the course of an offseason program or football practice. Sometimes you end up practicing a bad habit in college because you do it so fast that you don’t pay attention to technique. Repping it day by day has definitely helped me a lot with muscle memory, getting the steps down pat, counting the steps and knowing once I explode out of the gate how to cut and plant.

Last week we had some time to recuperate and get out strength back. The trainers gave our legs and bodies a bit of a break but still made sure we were giving it our all with what they assigned us. Every Wednesday we do warm up stretches and then yoga. I had never tried yoga before doing this training.

Continue Reading » Josh Evans – Path to the 2013 NFL Draft: Two weeks of training and a return to Gainesville

Tags: combine, Draft, Josh Evans, Matt Elam, NFL, Travaris Robinson, Will Muschamp

P Johnny Townsend: commit No. 30 | OL/TE Trevon Young: commit No. 29 | JUCO DT Jarran Reed: commit No. 28 | DT Jay-nard Bostwick: commit No. 27 | 30 new player bios | Video interviews with coaches | “Closing”, quarterback situation

Florida Gators head coach Will Muschamp held a press conference after his coaching staff completed its 28-member 2013 recruiting class on National Signing Day. Below are the most notable quotes from that session as well as player evaluations made by other members of the coaching staff.

Opening statement:

“I’m really proud of our staff. Today is a culmination of a lot of hard work, effort, sometimes two-and-a-half, three years put together on a young man and you come down to signing day and you sit at the fax machine and hope that thing comes through. I hope it’s signed right and it’s dated and all that kind of good stuff. Recruiting is all about building relationships. We’ll know about this class in two or three years. It’s a developmental game. …

“We had a deep signing class this year, which means you’ve got to a have a larger board as far as the numbers are concerned at each position, which also to me was very appealing. At some positions we signed five wide receivers [for example]. Those are five guys that want to come in here and compete. Sometimes when you get some numbers you start getting guys looking at that depth chart and numbers and they’re not real sure about coming in and competing for the Gators. We want guys that got a lot of confidence that they can come in the SEC and play in The Swamp and play for the University of Florida.

“This class is very balanced. It’s a high-character class with toughness, all the position criteria we look for as far as size and speed and then all of the off-the-field things we’re looking for. It’s a very committed class. A lot of these guys are guys that have been committed to us for a long time and never took other visits; there was not a lot of flash in their recruiting process. That’s the kind of guys you want; you want guys that are like that. …

“The coaching process is really about four things – evaluation, recruiting, developing and coaching. I think in our two years, you’ve seen on the recruiting trail – from an evaluation standpoint and a recruiting standpoint – that we’ve got a staff that can do it at a high level. I’m very proud of the staff and the job that they’ve [done] and all of our support staff on campus. … There’s a true commitment level at this place for excellence, and I appreciate their support.”

» On commitments being the best recruiters: “They understand the importance of having good players around them. This coaching stuff is way overrated. It’s about players at the end of the day, and they want to play with other good players.”

» On if he looks at player star ratings from recruiting services: “Absolutely no consideration at all. We commit most of our guys before they ever come out, so maybe they look at our ratings.”

Read much more from Muschamp and the Florida coaching staff…after the break!
Continue Reading » Will Muschamp discusses Florida Gators’ 2013 recruiting class; coaches evaluate new signees

Tags: Adam Lane, Ahmad Fulwood, Alvin Bailey, Brent Pease, Brian White, Bryant Young, Caleb Brantley, Chris Thompson, D.J. Durkin, Demarcus Robinson, Fred Taylor, Jarrad Davis, Joker Phillips, Kelvin Taylor, Marcell Harris, Max Staver, Mike Harris, National Signing Day, Travaris Robinson, Vernon Hargreaves, Will Muschamp

P Johnny Townsend: commit No. 30 | OL/TE Trevon Young: commit No. 29 | JUCO DT Jarran Reed: commit No. 28 | Muschamp discusses class; assistants evaluate signees | 30 new player bios | Video interviews with coaches | “Closing”, quarterback situation

Just over an hour into National Signing Day, the Florida Gators’ 2013 recruiting class expanded by one name as four-star defensive tackle Jay-nard Bostwick (Port St. Lucie, FL) decided to continue his career in Gainesville, FL.

Announcing at a ceremony at his high school, Bostwick chose Florida over Alabama and Miami and signed his National Letter of Intent on the spot in front of a crowd.

Ranked as the No. 25 defensive tackle by Rivals and the No. 286 overall player in the country (No. 27 defensive tackle) by ESPN, Bostwick spent the final weekend of the recruiting process on campus for an official visit with the Gators.

His pledge is a big one for Florida, which adds another talented player at a position of need. The Gators lost a pair of defensive tackles – junior Sharrif Floyd and redshirt senior Omar Hunter – at the conclusion of the 2012 season.

“A tremendous player. I think Jay-nard is an exceptional player. He is really talented. He’s got a great, great family who is supportive of him and wants him to do well,” said defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson, according to the school’s website. “He will be a three-technique guy. … He’s strong. He’s 295 right now and 6’3″. He’s got initial quickness. He’s got explosion. He’s got finish. He’s got the different things that it takes to be successful inside. He just needs to come in and get ready to bang.”

Bostwick is the 27th overall commitment for Florida this cycle and the fourth defensive tackle to make a pledge for the Gators.

Check out OGGOA’s live coverage of National Signing Day – click here!

Tags: Jay-nard Bostwick, National Signing Day, Omar Hunter, Sharrif Floyd, Travaris Robinson

Though the Florida Gators had previously released contract information for head coach Will Muschamp‘s new 2012 hires, the team handed documents over on Monday containing information on raises given to some assistants currently on the staff.

According to information obtained by The Gainesville Sun and Associated Press via Florida, defensive coordinator Dan Quinn signed a contract extension that keeps him in orange and blue through 2013. He received an $80,000 bonus, will earn another $80,000 as a retention bonus if he lasts through the 2013 season and had his annual salary upped $20,000 to $510,000 per year.

Also earning an extension and getting what Muschamp obviously believes is a well-deserved raise was linebackers/special teams coach D.J. Durkin, whose salary was upped $75,000 to $340,000 for each of the next two seasons.

Running backs coach Brian White received a $50,000 raise this season to $290,000, and both tight ends coach Derek Lewis and defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson were also extended for this year.

A look at the coaching staff’s 2012 salaries compared with their counterparts in 2011:

2012 Coach	2012 Salary	2011 Coach	2011 Salary
Will Muschamp Head Coach	$2.75M (5 years)	Will Muschamp Head Coach	$2.75M (5 years)
Brent Pease Offensive Coordinator / QBs	$490K (3 years)	Charlie Weis Offensive Coordinator / QBs	$765K (3 years)
Dan Quinn Defensive Coordinator / DL	$510K (2 years)	Dan Quinn Defensive Coordinator / DL	$490K (2 years)
D.J. Durkin Linebackers / Special Teams	$340K (2 years)	D.J. Durkin Linebackers / Special Teams	$265K (1 year)
Brian White Running Backs	$290K (1 year)	Brian White Running Backs	$240K (1 year)
Tim Davis Offensive Line	$275K (1 year)	Frank Verducci Offensive Line	$290K (2 years)
Aubrey Hill Wide Receivers / Recruiting	$230K (1 year)	Aubrey Hill Wide Receivers / Recruiting	$230K (1 year)
Travaris Robinson Defensive backs	$230K (1 year)	Travaris Robinson Defensive backs	$230K (1 year)
Bryant Young Asst. Defensive Line	$230K (1 year left)	Bryant Young Asst. Defensive Line	$230K (2 years)
Derek Lewis Tight Ends	$190K (1 year)	Derek Lewis Tight Ends	$190K (1 year)
Jeff DIllman Strength & Conditioning	$215K (2 years)	Mickey Marotti Strength & Conditioning	$240K (unknown)

* Muschamp signed an extension giving him five years remaining on his contract.
* Young is in the second year of a two-year contract signed in 2011.
* Florida signs most assistant coaches to one-year renewable contracts.

Universal contract notes and bonuses:
- All coaches receive a $10,000 bonus from Florida’s contract with Nike
- All coaches receive use of a car and other tangible incentives
- BCS National Championship Game appearance – up to 30 percent increase
- Other BCS bowl game appearance – 20 percent increase
- SEC Championship Game appearance – 10 percent increase
- Non-BCS bowl game – 10 percent increase
- Bowl game with less than $2 million payout – one month’s salary increase

Tags: Brian White, D.J. Durkin, Dan Quinn, Derek Lewis, Travaris Robinson, Will Muschamp

Florida Gators wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator Aubrey Hill has resigned from his position with the team, the school announced on Friday.

Hill, who has been twice named by Yahoo! Sports in connection with major recruiting violations in his former position with the Miami Hurricanes (Aug. 16, 2011 | July 20, 2012), resigned for “personal reasons” according to head coach Will Muschamp.

“I have too much love and respect for this program to become a distraction as I deal with some personal issues,” Hill said in statement released by the school. “I’m thankful for the opportunity to have worked with Coach Muschamp, a tremendous staff and great group of players. The future is very bright here and the University of Florida will always have a special place in my heart. Go Gators.”

Muschamp said in a release that he appreciated Hill’s decision to move on.

“Aubrey informed me he was resigning for personal reasons that have nothing to do with the University of Florida,” he said. “Aubrey didn’t want to be a distraction to our team and our football program and he thought it was best for him to move on. I appreciate Aubrey’s efforts and wish him the best moving forward. He will always remain a Gator.”

A Miami, FL native, Hill is a Gators alum who played for head coach Steve Spurrier from 1991-94 when Florida won their first three SEC titles. He served as a graduate assistant under Spurrier from 1996-98 and coached wide receivers at four stops over 12 years before being hired by Florida. He also served as the Hurricanes recruiting coordinator only for the 2010 season, his last year with the team.

Filling in for Hill at least temporarily will be offensive coordinator Brent Pease, who also coaches the Gators’ quarterbacks, and offensive graduate assistant Bush Hamdan. Pease previously coached wide receivers at Boise State from 2006-10, and Hamdan was a backup quarterback in his offensive system.

Muschamp will likely hire a new coach after the season.

Defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson is an early candidate to take over Hill’s recruiting coordinator duties; Florida already has 21 players verbally committed for the 2013 cycle as of press time and has an early jump on its 2014 class.

Tags: Aubrey Hill, Brent Pease, Bush Hamdan, Miami Hurricanes, Steve Spurrier, Travaris Robinson, Will Muschamp