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UF's Meyer Pleased With Debose, Small Class

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By MICK ELLIOTT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2009

Power shopping on the strength of a freshly won second national championship in three seasons, Florida Gators football coach Urban Meyer got his man.

Actually, Meyer and the Gators got 16 commitments on Wednesday's signing day. One, however, was the man for their plan.

Addressing a vacancy created by junior playmaker Percy Harvin's decision to enter the NFL draft, the Gators highlighted their recruiting efforts by landing speedy 6-foot, 176-pound wide receiver Andre Debose from Sanford's Seminole High.

"I know I can't single guys out, but I'm going to single him out," Meyer said. "He's as good as there is. I think he's the best player in America. Watching him on film, for what we do, our style offense, for what we need right now with the departure of Percy Harvin, he's a critical element. He's perfect.

"Tremendous speed. With the proper training this spring, he's going to be one of the fastest players in the state of Florida."

A short time earlier, at his school in Sanford, Debose announced his decision to attend Florida, but he didn't seem interested in being another Percy Harvin.

"Every school recruiting against Florida was saying, 'Why be the next Percy Harvin? Come here instead and be yourself,'" Debose told The Associated Press. "Well, I don't want to be compared to Percy Harvin, or compared to anyone else. I'm my own person. I'll carve my own name. I don't feel any pressure. The expectations will just make me work harder. I expect to be a factor right away."

Debose should have the chance. That should make him an exception. The Gators lose only four starters from their offense. Florida's defense returns its top 22 players.

Nevertheless, Florida added three additional players ranked as blue-chip recruits: Jelani Jenkins, a 6-foot-1, 200-pound linebacker from Olney, Md.; Gary Brown, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive tackle from Quincy's West Gadsden High; and Xavier Nixon, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound offensive lineman from Fayetteville, N.C.

"We had a little bit of a tough deal," Meyer said. "We have 22 players coming back on defense. Not 11. Not nine. Not four. We have the top 22 back. I really take my hat off to some of these young guys. Jelani Jenkins, a great football player with many, many choices, put on the Florida hat and said 'I'm going to be a Gator.' Didn't ask how many linebackers we had. Just, 'I'm going to go play.'"

In addition to addressing the loss of Harvin, the Gators also took big steps toward replenishing their only other significant loss - offensive line, where seniors Jason Watkins, Phil Trautwein and Jim Tartt will be gone.

Along with signing Nixon, who was named to Parade magazine's All-America team, the Gators added four other offensive linemen. Among them is St. Petersburg Catholic's Jon Halapio, who is 6-4 and 300 pounds.

"We had an offensive line that was the best in the Southeastern Conference, probably among the top two in America," Meyer said. "We are going to have two tackles leave and some other good players who have potential of playing in the NFL. So we had to bring in five, because we had some injuries there.

"To bring in five players in one grouping is hard, because usually they X each other out. They don't want to compete against each other. So, on the offensive line we addressed the tackle issue, the guard issue and the center issue. That's one of the best recruiting jobs I've ever been around."

Florida Signees

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