Welcome to Gator Nation Marcus! (Image By: Dustin Smith)
One of the seven high school recruits to commit to Florida this past weekend was Marcus Mascoll. Though he’s only rated as a three-star prospect, he comes with a load of potential.
While the addition of Marcus Mascoll was not the shock wave commit to Florida yesterday, he still marks a growing trend in the recruitment efforts of Billy Napier. Mascoll became the third offensive lineman to join the 2024 class in a week for Florida, along with Mike Williams and Noel Portnjagin. His commitment to Florida came as a direct head-to-head win over the LSU Tigers after many believed Brian Kelly was in the drivers seat for the recruitment.
Mascoll may not be the blue-chip addition many now in the last 72 hours have grown accustomed to. But it’s that last sentence that should have many Gator fans excited.
For the last two seasons, many Gator fans have been clamoring for a change in approach and strategy on the recruiting trail. When Marcus Mascoll committed to Florida, it meant that Billy Napier had directly beat out LSU. And that highlights the notion that the tide may finally have turned in this department.
The trend had been as such: Billy Napier and Florida were great at getting kids to visit and have a great time in Gainesville. However, the staff could not convince kids to commit on the spot, and thus would come up second to the school who led going into the visit (In All Kinds Of Weather CEO Neil Shulman has this particular gripe in the case of four-star linebacker Kris Jones). And there were many reporting from On3 that this was the case- until the latest round of visits, that is- and most believed that Florida would miss out yet again to an SEC rival.
But no. Marcus Mascoll is a Gator.
What changed though? Well, the virtue of persistence paid off. Mascoll told reporters that Darnell Stapleton and Rob Sale made him feel like he was the biggest priority and he took a liking to their coaching philosophy and recruitment approach. This should come as good news since many in Gator Nation have felt the whole “two offensive line coaches” experiment has not given the returns as promised.
Based on all of this, the big takeaway from Marcus Mascoll committing to Florida should be the efforts and strategy by the staff is working. Florida fans just needed to remain a little patient. We’re getting there.
As for the player himself, Marcus Mascoll brings strong playmaking abilities to the table. The 6-5′ nearly 300 pound offensive lineman projects as a tackle at the next level. He possesses some solid footwork for a prospect at this stage in his development and can be a true road grader that finishes blocks off. Certainly like many high school offensive lineman he will need time in the program, but the aforementioned multi-OL coach situation in Gainesville should help with that.
It’s also worth noting that offensive linemen are, on the whole, the most difficult position to analyze, grade and rank. As a result, a lot of offensive linemen with strong offer lists are rated as three-star prospects, with four-star and five-star prospects at the position being a bit more scarce than at most other positions.
As a result of Mascoll and the other six commitments over the weekend Florida now has a unanimous top-five recruiting class, including the #2 class in the On3 rankings.
