What does the state of Florida mean for Michigan recruiting?

Florida college football powerhouse programs are down this year, there’s no question about it. Thankfully, Miami and UCF are carrying the weight as the only two ranked and with winning records.

With the recent coaching changes happening and struggles at the University of Florida, programs like Michigan are quickly making scholarship offers to current Florida commits, and two happened yesterday. The 2018 Michigan recruiting class currently has 15, with very few at wide receiver and defensive end. Along with those positions, adding a couple more offensive linemen would help round out this class nicely. Adding skilled position players, like the two picking up offers recently, could help add some depth in an already young team.

2018 3-star defensive end Taylor Upshaw from Bradenton, Florida was one of those two.

Taylor is a 6-foot-5, 240 pound athlete that fits right in to the blitz style by Defensive Coordinator Don Brown. His size and speed off the edge is tough to protect and he can quickly break up plays while chasing down quarterbacks. He committed to Florida on June 10, so his recruiting process has been very quiet since then, until now.

Football has been part of his family and how he was raised. His father, Regan Upshaw Sr., played college football at Cal, and 10 seasons in the NFL after he was drafted by Tampa Bay in the 1996.

The second came earlier to another current Florida verbal commit.

JaMarr is the No. 6 ranked overall wide receiver, No. 2 ranked in Louisiana and No. 25 player overall in the 2018 class, according to 247Sports. He verbally committed to Florida on July 23, and since then only took an unofficial visit to LSU on Sept. 9.

His size of 6-foot-1, 195 pounds is used on offense mostly in variety of plays, but also in kickoff situations. He is tough to bring down, gains yards after initial contact and breaks through tackles for extra yards. With many of the younger players on Michigan’s roster at those positions, he could quickly get in the rotation early based on his physical style of play. LSU is another school that will likely make a late run at JaMarr to attempt a flip, especially since he’s shown an interest by visiting earlier this fall.

Jim Harbaugh has been able to recruit well in Florida since he arrived to Michigan. The 2016 recruiting class included six from the sunshine state, including Devin Bush Jr., Eddie McDoom and Josh Metellus. The 2017 class included two players out of Florida, including Cesar Ruiz, the top rated overall center in the country. We all remember the 2016 spring break trip to IMG Academy that caused somewhat of an uproar in the south.

It may take the University of Florida time to rebuild, depending on who takes over, so programs like Michigan could land a recruit or two from the state of Florida/committed to Florida in the process.