Florida Gators

#Swamp17 Live Blog | Photo Gallery | Updated roster, player bios and Q&A from McElwain's press conference

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida head coach Jim McElwain entered his National Signing Day press conference smiling, and he left with a grin.

Can you blame him?

If you do not follow recruiting hour-by-hour and happened to plug into the Gators' recruiting efforts via social media the past couple of weeks, you might think Florida was busy chasing Pop Warner players while the rest of college football pursued five-star studs.

The doom and gloom bordered on insanity at times, which, let's face it, in recruiting is more commonplace than should be allowed by law. However, such is the game and if you are a head coach of a program like Florida, well, it comes with the paycheck.

"That's OK,'' McElwain said Wednesday. "That's part of it."

Still, it must be gratifying to get in the last word.

That is what McElwain and the Gators did, signing 18 players to add to the five midyear enrollees already on campus and participating in spring workouts. In the end, the Gators closed fast and furious to finish with a class that is ranked in the top 10 nationally by Rivals.com (ninth), Scout.com (10th) and 247Sports.com (10th), and 13th by ESPN.com.

McElwain's mood was evident soon after he high-fived Albert at the start of his press conference.

"I can't tell you how excited I am for the day, how excited we are as a program, how happy I am for the guys who chose to be Gators,'' he said. "There's a lot of things that go into it, a lot of relationships, a lot of things to be built.

"Things are trending so fastly upward I can't believe it. We're getting there with facilities, which has been a huge asset for us as we continue to move forward collecting future Gators."

McElwain had plenty to be optimistic about, including a pair of late additions on offense that set many of the same doom-and-gloomers trending in the opposite direction on social media: running back Adarius Lemons and receiver James Robinson.

Lemons played at Clearwater High but missed the second half of his senior season due to off-the-field issues. Robinson starred at Lakeland High and recently ran into off-the-field trouble during a recruiting visit to Ohio State.

Robinson's signing was announced on McElwain's Twitter account right before he arrived at the team's indoor practice facility for the press conference, and while at the podium, McElwain announced the Gators had just received and approved Lemons' NLI.

He answered questions about Robinson's surprise addition.

"Obviously, as in all players, the important thing is you do your research and your background," McElwain said. "My guess is there's a few people in this crowd right here that have some regrets on things they've done, and yet at the same time take responsibility for it. Here is the good thing: We get an opportunity to be involved in his life.

"We get an opportunity to help him move forward, as we do all the players on this team. I'm excited about him being a Gator."

Defensive lineman Tedarrell Slaton (American Heritage High in Fort Lauderdale) and cornerback C.J. Henderson (Columbus High in Miami) are two of the biggest gets for the Gators on Wednesday from players previously uncommitted.



Henderson is one of six defensive backs in the class and one of 11 of the top 50 prospects in Florida signed by the Gators, which is the most of any school in the state. The Gators, after signing four of the state's top 50 prospects in 2016, nearly tripled that total Wednesday.

"It's a compliment to our staff, it's a compliment to high school coaching in this state, and also to the players, wanting to stay home and represent their home state and make this state, make this university and make this program great,'' defensive line coach Chris Rumph said. "Like I tell those guys all the time, you can accomplish all your dreams and all your goals at the University of Florida."

In addition, the Gators did an excellent job of gathering talent in the Tampa Bay region, an even greater task now that former UF assistant Charlie Strong is head coach at USF. Lemons, Robinson, Lakeland Kathleen linebacker Ventrell Miller, Tampa Jesuit running back Malik Davis, Tampa Bay Tech receiver Daquon Green and Tampa Hillsborough defensive end Zachary Carter all signed.

As McElwain departed to enjoy a National Signing Day staff event for his coaching staff, support staff and their families, he clearly was pleased at what transpired Wednesday and over the course of the past week.

Some had the Gators down and out. He never did. The recruiting cycle was just heating up.

"I think we'll enjoy a nice evening with a great class. What was it? A strong finish,'' he said, alluding to a question earlier from a reporter. "Is that what it was? Appreciate it."

And off into the late afternoon sun he went. Still smiling.