Florida Football: 5 Freshmen Who Will Be Counted on to Make an Immediate Impact

Will Muschamp and his coaching staff have made it very clear that they will play the best player, regardless of age. 

In his first season, Muschamp played 11 true freshmen, with Marcus Roberson and De'Ante "Pop" Saunders earning starting positions on defense. Additionally, Hunter Joyer, Jacoby Brissett and A.C. Leonard all earned starts in their first season on campus. 

With his first top-five recruiting class as head coach of the Florida Gators, expect more of the same from Muschamp and crew in 2012. With a class of 23 players—six already on campus—let's take a look at which freshmen will be counted on to make an early impact for the Gators. 

Dante Fowler Jr.

Don't let his goofy smile and playful demeanor fool you—Dante Fowler Jr. can play.

Fowler, a 5-star recruit according to Rivals, was a long-time FSU commit who switched to Florida only days before National Signing Day. 

Fowler envisions himself as a perfect fit to play in Florida's defense at the BUCK linebacker position. With the injury and uncertainty of Ronald Powell's future, Fowler will be tested early by the coaching staff and could be an early leader who could start for the Gators. 

Jonathan Bullard

Will Muschamp accused the 2011 version of the Gators of being soft and vowed to change that. The 2012 recruiting class featured 23, 14 of which play along the offensive and defensive lines. Jonathan Bullard was the highest rated recruit on the defensive line and will be a guy the coaches look to to provide freshmen leadership on and off the field. 

Bullard comes into Gainesville as the top-rated defensive end in the 2012 recruiting class.

With Sharrif Floyd playing out of position for most of 2011, his production did not live up to expectations after a very good freshman year. Floyd continued to play at end rather than his more natural tackle position due to depth issues at the position. 

While Tevin Westbrook has improved, he hasn't shown that he can be effective enough to start this season and Earl Okine was ineffective and then absent after a back injury sidelined him for the spring. Prior to that Okine was called a "waste of a scholarship" by Will Muschamp during practice. 

Bullard comes in and could provide the Gators with just the player who is ready to step up and allow Floyd to move back inside. 

Matt Jones

Senior Mike Gillislee has all but locked up the starting tailback position. 

Behind him, the Gators are thin.

Former safety Chris Johnson and former tight end/ wide receiver Omarius Hines were moved to running back to create some more depth. Mack Brown rounds out the depth at running back, but Brown has lived up to his hype coming out of high school and hasn't really been given a real opportunity to shine.

In 2011 the Gators lacked a power running game and struggled running between the tackles. This prevented Florida from converting on 3rd-and-short. The Gators finished 111th in the nation with a 32.08 percent conversion rating on third down and 113th in the nation is red zone touchdown percentage with a paltry 37.84 percent mark. 

Matt Jones, a 6'3'', 225-pound back, will help both of those numbers. Jones will bring a kind of physicality to the position that the Gators haven't seen since Tim Tebow was bowling through defensive lines. 

Jones will immediately compete for and challenge Gillislee for the starting job at tailback, and even if he doesn't win the job, Jones will get a lot of touches in his freshman campaign. 

Antonio Morrison

Of the players on campus already, only two are listed as BUCK linebackers. Ronald Powell will have surgery on his knee coming up on Monday and will probably miss all of September, if not more. Gideon Ajagbe is the only other player listed at the position, and he will not be able to fill in for Powell on his own. 

Lerentee McCray is another player already on the roster who could fill in for Powell, but that would leave a whole at the SAM linebacker spot. 

In steps Antonio Morrison.

With all the craze that the Gators had about top-rated players this year, Morrison sort of fell though the cracks.

If he showed one thing this spring, it is that he will not be overlooked anymore.

Morrison is a big hitter and a sound tackler. This spring, he showed that he is ready to play in the SEC, and he could be ready to fill in at linebacker while the Gator coaching staff tries to find a replacement (or replacements) for Powell. 

Latroy Pittman

Much like Morrison, Latroy Pittman didn't receive much of the fanfare in the Gators' Class of 2012. 

After enrolling early, Pittman comes out of spring camp as the most reliable receiver on the roster. The freshman runs crisp routes and has a sneaky speed that can get him behind defenses. 

Pittman, as is the case with all of the Gators receivers, will have a chance to make an immediate impact based on the simple fact that the Gators are thin at the position. Debose has not yet become a consistent, reliable threat, Frankie Hammond has just 41 career catches and Quinton Dunbar was highly touted at this time a year ago, but disappeared during the season. 

Expect Pittman to build off of a solid spring and earn a ton of playing time in 2012.