The Miami Heat have a Big Three, and now the Gators have theirs.
“Ronald Powell is Chris Bosh, Sharrif (Floyd) is Dwyane Wade and I’m LeBron (James),” defensive tackle Dominique Easley said.
The trio of freshman defensive linemen comes into its first season at Florida with a lot of hype. Powell, Floyd and Easley were respectively ranked the Nos. 1, 4 and 7 recruits of the 2010 class according to Rivals.com.
But they aren’t backing down from the pressure that comes with those accolades.
“I do want to be the best defensive end in America,” Powell said. “As far as expectations, my expectations are a lot higher than everybody else’s.”
Defensive line coach Dan McCarney is known to rotate players on the defensive front throughout the game to utilize UF’s depth, which bodes well for the three to receive playing time immediately.
And they won’t need to bulk up too much before they’re physically ready to play.
Powell has already benchpressed 225 pounds 21 times in one set, Floyd is tipping the scales at 300 pounds and Easley is not far behind him at 280 pounds.
“I definitely expect to play,” Powell said. “I can tell you one thing about this class, none of these guys want to sit and wait. None of us.”
But their playing time this season is expected to come as members of the second-string team.
Their relationship began early.
Following Easley’s commitment to Florida after the Under Armour All-America Game on Jan. 2, he sold the school to Powell and Floyd.
The two then followed in Easley’s footsteps and chose Florida a week later at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
The trio comes in as five-star recruits, but that doesn’t matter to them.
“Take away all the stars, we don’t care about them,” Powell said.
With defensive ends Justin Trattou and Duke Lemmens, defensive tackle Terron Sanders and nose guard Lawrence Marsh leaving after this season, the freshmen could be pushed to the forefront as soon as next year.
“We can do a lot of great things here,” Floyd said. “We can get a lot of stuff rolling and we can have the [Southeastern Conference] scared of us. We can have it all.”
