After a lackluster ending to the 2015 season, Jim McElwain and the Florida football team now turn their attention to Spring practice. The Gators return a plethora of starters -- most notably All-Southeastern Conference corner Jalen Tabor, freshman phenom Antonio Callaway and prolific punter Johnny Townsend. But for each starter coming back, Florida sees a veteran heading to the NFL.
Vernon Hargreaves. Keanu Neal. Kelvin Taylor. Trip Thurman. Antonio Morrison. The list keeps going.
Yet with each player who leaves, whether it’s due to exhausting eligibility or leaving early with the hopes of starting his professional career, another player will get the chance to leave his mark on the Florida Gators football program.
With that said, here’s your way-too-early look at four players currently on Florida’s roster who have a chance to make an impact when UF opens its 2016 season on Sept. 3.
DeAndre Goolsby, tight end
In a young, developing offense, the tight end generally serves as a security blanket, a player the quarterback can throw check-down passes to on a regular basis with little fear of making mistakes.
Last season, the Gators had the luxury of utilizing sixth-year senior Jake McGee in that role, a role where he flourished to the tune of 41 catches, 381 yards and four touchdowns.
Even with McGee leaving despite a potential attempt to find a loophole for a seventh year, the offensive success that he created from the tight end position will likely continue for the Gators next season as rising junior DeAndre Goolsby takes over the starting job.
Goolsby finished the season with 17 catches for 277 yards and a touchdown as McGee’s backup.
The numbers aren’t anything special, but the 6-foot-4, 243-pound tight end flashed his potential at various points throughout the season.
None of which was more telling than his 94-yard outing against East Carolina, in which Goolsby hauled in a third-down pass from quarterback Will Grier late in the first quarter, faked out two defenders and dashed to the end zone for a 32-yard score.
Marcell Harris, safety
The Gators are losing one of their hardest-hitting safeties in Keanu Neal next season, but Marcell Harris plays in a very similar fashion to Neal and seems ready to make the leap heading into his redshirt junior season.
The Orlando native has spent most of his career on special teams or as a backup safety, but that didn’t stop Harris from recording a career-high 22 tackles in limited time last season.
Harris showed poise and precision while working on kickoff and punt coverage units and packs a punch with his tackling. If his coverage skills continue developing, he has a chance to fight for a starting spot on opening day.
Eddy Pineiro, kicker
Let’s just cut to the chase: Florida’s kicking game was awful last season.
The Gators’ combination of Austin Hardin and Jorge Powell converted on just 7-of-17 field goal attempts, a 41.2-percent completion mark that ranks worse than every Football Bowl Subdivision team except for Wyoming (25 percent on 2-of-8 kicking). UF also missed five extra-point attempts, two more than the team missed throughout the four-year Will Muschamp era.
Enter Eddy Pineiro, a 2016 early enrollee who comes to UF as the No. 1-rated junior college kicker.
While Pineiro has yet to take a field-goal attempt in actual game action, videos show the North Miami Beach native booting kicks through the uprights from staggering distances, most recently a 62-yarder inside Florida’s Indoor Practice Facility.
Kylan Johnson, safety/linebacker
Johnson sat out his freshman season while he rehabbed a leg injury, but he made a name for himself at practice in 2015.
A three-star recruit out of Dallas, Johnson’s ability to play both linebacker and safety should afford him the opportunity to see extended playing time in 2016.
This is only magnified by the fact that Florida’s linebacker corps will be bare outside of Alex Anzalone and Jarrad Davis (if he returns) and the secondary loss of senior corner Brian Poole.
Honorable Mentions
Running back trio Jordan Scarlett, Jordan Cronkrite and JUCO transfer Mark Thompson are expected to carry the Gators in the ground game. … Freshmen defensive linemen Keivonnis Davis and Jabari Zuniga were two players who upperclassmen raved about heading into the Citrus Bowl. … Freshmen guards Brandon Sandifer and Richerd Desir-Jones, who both took a redshirt this season, are expected to bolster Florida’s offensive line next year.
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Jordan Cronkrite runs into the end zone for a touchdown during Florida's 24-14 win against South Carolina on Nov. 14, 2015, at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, South Carolina.
