Florida Football: Players to Watch in High School All-American Games

Head coach Jim McElwain’s first season at Florida was a success, as the Gators won the SEC East and finished the regular season 10-3 with a berth in the 2015 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.

It is now coming down to crunch time for Florida to capitalize on its momentum with a strong recruiting class. This will be McElwain’s first full recruiting class, so it will be important to establish a foundation of his type of players for the program moving forward.

The Gators have commitments or targets in the Under Armour, U.S. Army and Semper Fidelis All-American Games. Let us take a look at certain highlighted players in each of those showcases.

Under Armour All-American Game

Florida will boast four commits on the roster in Orlando, Florida, for the Under Armour All-American Game.

Defensive back Chauncey Gardner headlines the list. He is nationally the highest-ranked Florida player at the game, checking in No. 68. Gardner possesses the range to play cornerback and safety, and the youngster is having an excellent week of practice, per Bleacher Report’s Tyler Donohue.

With a crowded and talented secondary that will likely only lose All-American Vernon Hargreaves III to the NFL, Gardner’s versatility could help him see the field sooner.

Another attribute of Gardner's is his return ability, which is evident below:

Gardner's play-making ability in multiple aspects of the game make him an elite prospect for Florida.

Antonneous Clayton is another player to watch. Clayton is a defensive end who is ranked as the 106th player in the nation due to his 6'3" frame and strong quickness off of the ball. He may struggle to find the field right away given Florida’s depth up front, but look for Clayton to form a dynamic pass-rushing duo with current freshman star CeCe Jefferson two years down the road.

Receiver Joshua Hammond and center Brett Heggie round out the rest of Florida’s commits. Hammond is a small, speedy receiver who could compliment Antonio Calloway in the slot in a few years, but Florida is stacked with young talent at receiver. Heggie could compete for playing time next season but most likely as the backup to current starter Cameron Dillard.

Florida is also targeting several players in the game.

The major prizes are on the defensive side of the ball. Florida is in the running for cornerback Kristian Fulton, defensive lineman Shavar Manuel and linebacker Lyndell Wilson.

Fulton and Wilson are considered long shots for Florida as Fulton (LSU) and Wilson (Alabama) are leaning toward their state schools. The Gators are in definite contention for Manuel, who would battle immediately for playing time on Florida’s interior defensive line.

With opponents like Georgia on its schedule every season, Florida would love to add Manuel as another guy to disrupt players like Nick Chubb and Sony Michel in the backfield.

Also look out for receiver Nate Craig-Myers and quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Craig-Myers is an explosive player who is considering Florida after decommiting from Auburn earlier in the year. Haskins, a Maryland commit, officially visited the Gators in November, and they could be a candidate to flip the star signal-caller.

U.S. Army All-American Bowl

Only one Florida commit will compete in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, but he is one of the most important players to the Gators’ future.

Coming in as the third-ranked pro-style quarterback and the 37th player nationally, Feleipe Franks is Florida’s highest-ranked and most valuable commit. With Will Grier transferring and Treon Harris struggling to throw the ball toward the end of the season, Franks has a legitimate chance to start for the Gators in 2016. Franks arguably already throws the ball better than Harris, judging by his highlights below:

Franks’ commitment will likely keep Haskins away from Florida, but landing both would give McElwain arguably the best tandem of young quarterbacks in college football.

Targets to keep an eye on include Brian Burns, a lengthy 6'5" defensive end who could further bolster Florida’s defensive line prowess, and Trayvon Mullen, one of the nation’s top cornerbacks who could pair with Gardner and current Gator Jalen Tabor to form a scary secondary.

Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl

As it currently stands, there are no Florida commits on the roster for the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl.

The pickings for targets are also slim. There are no prospects in the Semper Fidelis bowl game who are legitimately considering Florida. Defensive end Chidi Okonya recently committed to Duke after decommitting from Tennessee. Florida offered Okonya and is moderately pursuing him, but he is almost certain to end up someplace other than Gainesville.

Since 2012, Florida received only five players total from the Semper Fidelis bowl. Thus, it is not a huge surprise that the Gators are not much involved in this year’s game. One of those players, linebacker Antonio Morrison of the 2012 game, led the Gators in tackles this past season.

All recruiting rankings and player preferences are courtesy of 247Sports.