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It doesn’t matter that Florida didn’t win the SEC recruiting chase – it was close enough. As good as any haul of talents this season, the defending SEC East champion capitalized with a great class.

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2016 Florida Football Recruiting Class Overview

Head coach Jim McElwain came up with a whopper, changing the recruiting game back making Florida a major player again. It’s not like the program fell off the map when it came to bringing in the elite prospects, but now there’s a positive direction. It showed with the Gators in the hunt for elite prospect after elite prospect. While Alabama, LSU, and Ole Miss were able to more of the four and five-star types, for what needed to happen with a full year to recruit, McElwain got the job done.

The Class Is Heavy On …

Wide receiver. If McElwain wants to start throwing the ball around the yard like he’s used to, he needs the weapons to make it happen. He needs the quarterback, too – hoping Felepe Franks can be that guy – but it’ll help right away to get a JUCO superstar like Dre Massey, a decent-sized, quick producer who should be in the mix. The door will be open early on for Tyrie Cleveland, arguably the nation’s top receiver prospect, and with Freddie Swain and Joshua Hammond talented gets to bolster the future corps.

The Star of the Class Is …

RB Mark Thompson, 6-2, 220 – Eventually, Cleveland should be the biggest star of the show with the No. 1 ability to take over the passing game, but it’s Thompson who comes in from the JUCO ranks who should be one of the key stars of the offense early on. Extremely fast for his size, he can also bring the thump – he can do it all for the ground game.

The Team’s Biggest 2016 Depth Chart Hole Is …

Defensive back. The biggest hole to fill is quarterback, needing more production at the spot, but the hope is for Purdue transfer Austin Appleby to push Treon Harris to do something for the sluggish offense. DE Jonathan Bullard and MLB Antonio Morrison are done from the front seven, and SS Marcus Maye coming back helps, but Vernon Hargreaves is a special corner and Brian Poole was a key part of the puzzle.

2016 Florida Football Recruiting Class

McArthur Burnett DB 5-9 157 Fr. Pahokee, Fla./Pahokee
Antonneous Clayton DL 6-3 235 Fr. Vienna, Ga./Dooly County
Tyrie Cleveland WR 6-2 194 Fr. Houston, Texas/Westfield
Stone Forsythe OL 6-7 309 Fr. Winter Garden, Fla./West Orange
Feleipe Franks QB 6-6 214 Fr. Crawfordville, Fla./Wakulla
Chauncey Gardner DB 5-11 197 Fr. Cocoa, Fla./Cocoa
Josh Hammond WR 6-1 179 Fr. Hallandale Beach, Fla./Hallandale
Brett Heggie OL 6-3 314 Fr. Mount Dora, Fla./Mount Dora
Vosean Joseph LB 6-1 215 Fr. Miami, Fla./Norland
Quincy Lenton DB 5-11 207 Fr. Meridian, Miss./Meridian
Dre Massey WR 5-9 184 Jr. Greenville, S.C./Mauldin HS/Holmes CC
C.J. McWilliams DB 5-11 163 Fr. Miami, Fla./Southwest
Jeremiah Moon LB 6-4 209 Fr. Hoover, Ala./Hoover
Lamical Perine RB 5-11 218 Fr. Theodore, Ala./Theodore
Eddy Pineiro K 6-0 178 R-Fr. Miami, Fla./Sunset HS/ASA CC
Jachai Polite DL 6-2 259 Fr. Daytona Beach, Fla./Mainland
Joseph Putu DB 6-2 195 Jr. Providence, R.I./Mount Pleasant/NDSCS
David Reese LB 6-0 240 Fr. Farmington, Mich./Farmington
Jordan Smith DL 6-5 225 Fr. Lithonia, Ga./Lithonia
Freddie Swain WR 6-0 177 Fr. Ocala, Fla./North Marion
Jawaan Taylor OL 6-5 347 Fr. Cocoa, Fla./Cocoa
Jeawon Taylor DB 6-0 191 Fr. Montgomery, Ala./Park Crossing
Mark Thompson RB 6-2 228 R-Jr. La Mott, Pa./Cheltenham HS/Dodge City CC
Kyle Trask QB 6-4 230 Fr. Manvel, Texas/Manvel
Rick Wells WR 6-0 200 Fr. Jacksonville, Fla./Raines

MORE: Ranking No. 1 Recruiting Classes Since 2002