National Signing Day 2021: Florida signs four of six transfers as recruiting cycle closes

Football

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Image Credit: Demarkus Bowman/Twitter

The Florida Gators on Wednesday will not be adding any high school commitments as the traditional 2021 National Signing Day takes place for college football teams across the nation. It actually marks the second straight spotlight day in which Florida will not add any such players as the Gators did not have any commitments during the early signing period in December 2020 either.

One reason for that? The Gators and head coach Dan Mullen have become experts at raiding the transfer portal to the point that they will be adding six transfers to the roster ahead of the 2021 season. In lieu of announcing additions to the Class of 2021 on Wednesday, the program chose to publicize its incoming transfers.

Five-star running back Demarkcus Bowman (Clemson, 2020) and defensive linemen four-star Daquan Newkirk (Auburn, 2018), three-star Antonio Shelton (Penn State, 2016) and Dylan Meeks (Akron, 2017) were all officially announced as being added to the Florida roster on Wednesday after enrolling at the university in January.

Five-star tight end Arik Gilbert (LSU, 2020) and kicker Jace Christmann (Mississippi State, 2016) have also committed to transfer to the Gators, but they will not be enrolling until May.

Florida’s 2021 recruiting class, which was ranked No. 8 in the 247Sports Composite after the early signing period, has fallen to 13th — its lowest ranking since 2018 if it does not fall any further — simply due to it not adding commitments over the final two months of the cycle. UF will be near its scholarship limit once all of its transfers enroll.

The Gators have one five-star, 12 four-star and nine three-star pledges in the Class of 2021, which is good for fifth-best in the SEC and second-best in the state barely behind Miami. Included among those is five-star cornerback Jason Marshall (Miami, FL) and four-star linebacker Diwun Black (Perkinston, MS), the No. 1 overall JUCO prospect. If one was to add the talent of the transfer class to Florida’s total, it would have a top-five class in 2021.