Florida Gators add two commitments: 2016 DB Aaron Robinson, 2017 WR Lavarus Tigner

By Adam Silverstein
June 5, 2015

Florida Gators football recruiting rolled along for head coach Jim McElwain on Friday as two prospects from Deerfield Beach High School decided to commit to the program after receiving offers stemming from the 7-on-7 camp held at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.


The first player to pop for Florida was three-star 2016 wide receiver Aaron Robinson (Deerfield Beach, FL), a 6-foot-1, 185-pound prospect whose offer sheet was sparse, featuring programs like Kentucky, Mississippi State and Wisconsin.

Not long after Robinson made his intentions known, 2017 wide receiver Lavarus Tigner (Deerfield Beach, FL) pulled the trigger, joining his Deerfield Beach High School teammate as the prospect committed to join the Gators in 2017.

As such, Tigner (6-foot-2, 180 pounds) is still early in the recruiting process, but he already listed an offer from Miami and is believed to be a player on the verge of breaking out during his junior campaign next season.

Not much is known at this time about Robinson or Tigner, though both were high school teammates of Florida sophomore running back Brandon Powell. 247Sports lists Gators WR coach Kerry Dixon II as a recruiter for both prospects; Dixon also helped haul in 2016 three-star wideout Joshua Hammond (Hallandale, FL) on Thursday.

The Gators now have 15 players committed for 2016, 13 of which are listed as three-star prospects in the 247Sports Composite, a set of rankings that averages ratings from the major recruiting services. Robinson joins four-star Chauncey Gardner (Cocoa, FL) and three-star CB Christopher McWilliams (Miami, FL) as defensive backs verbally pledged to join the team next season.

Both commitments were reported by all the major recruiting services and spurned on by #ChopmChomp tweets from McElwain’s social media account.

Though some Florida fans are expressing frustration at the Gators’ penchant for signing three-star prospects under McElwain, a recruiting industry veteran told OnlyGators.com this week that UF’s coaching staff feels very good about its position this cycle. Florida is focusing on signing athletes the staff can develop and expects higher-rated players to sign on with the Gators as the team shows improvement on the field in 2015.

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6 Comments

  1. Mac_Supporter says:

    I am all for them signing these players! In would rather have development. I am not sure if we’ve seen too much of that in years!

  2. Ken (CA) says:

    I think this new staff is moving in the right direction, but while I get they are trying to own the state of FL, I am concerned that they are building it by not taking the top players in the state. There is so much talent in the state, going for unknowns and 2 and 3 stars is what Colorado State would be doing, not what UF should be doing. I get it that recruiting services can be biased, but right now they don’t seem to be getting the guys we should be getting some of the top players available, rather than just filling the roster. That is a Vandy or Ole Miss type situation.

    • senuod says:

      The last sentence in this article is key. The big recruits won’t come until they see improvement on the field. That’s the smartest thing they could do, from their perspective. We can’t assume that these recruits aren’t being talked to just because we haven’t seen the rewards yet.

      This comment is not specifically towards you Ken, but we have to be patient enough to let McElwain at least get on the field before we crucify him.

      • Tractorr says:

        Also, we need bodies or we are going to be in trouble. People are not going to want to hear this but the offense is probably going to be bad this season. I don’t care who the coach is he can’t fix inexperience, and our offensive line is probably the most inexperienced Florida OL in the last 30 years or so. Quite frankly we are in trouble this year. The best we can hope for is a mediocre offensive performance and our D keeping us in games. Next year we may have a functioning offense if we don’t have too many major injuries. What has to happen now is get bodies and get them in the system so we don’t have these kinds of holes again. Once we have a functioning offense we can worry about getting the stars.

        As far as defense is concerned the recruits have no idea what is going to be until they see it so that is going to take a year as well. Luckily the D should be in much better shape this year.

        • Michael Jones says:

          The voice of reason. But nobody wants to hear that. “Stars, stars, stars . . . . ” along with the arrogance of continuing to refer to programs like Ole Miss and Miss St as though they were beneath us, lol. Muschamp could have only hoped to have football programs as good as those two have been recently.

  3. john says:

    i believe in rating services, and # of stars usually translates into superior performance on the field of play. remember percy harvin, tim tebow, carlos dunlap, dominick easley, matt elam, sharrif floyd, dante fowler, jonathan bullard, vernon hargreaves, among many others, were all 5 star.
    but our program has suffered MIGHTILY in recent years, especially on offense.
    i believe in mcelwain and his crew.
    in time we will be signing more 4 and 5 star athletes.
    it takes time to turn this thing around

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