GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tyrie Cleveland and Rick Wells didn’t start their Florida careers in an ideal manner. The two newcomers made headlines in July for getting arrested after firing BB guns into a campus residence hall.
Talk about false starts. Not only did they face legal consequences, and land spots in coach Jim McElwain’s dog house, but their actions also kept them out of practice.
At the beginning of fall camp, Florida’s roster showed 11 scholarship receivers, and missing practice looked like it would result in getting buried on the depth chart. That’s not the case in September.
The scholarship number dropped to 10 when redshirt freshman Kalif Jackson was revealed to be rehabbing an injury. It fell to nine when it was announced C.J. Worton had a high ankle sprain. And then senior Chris Thompson was noticeably left off the depth chart, bringing the number to eight. Subtract Cleveland and Wells, and Florida had only six receivers available against UMass in the season opener.
The Gators suffered another huge blow with the recent news that Dre Massey, a starter, is out for the season after injuring his knee. Worton might be back, but with the lack of depth in mind, it becomes clear Cleveland and Wells will have the opportunity to make an immediate impact this Saturday against Kentucky. The passing game could use a spark, as the longest Gators reception was for 26 yards.
“Tyrie and Rick are extremely athletic and fast. Big guys for freshmen,” QB Luke Del Rio said. “If you just saw them in the locker room, you probably wouldn’t think that they’re true freshmen because they’re pretty developed physically.”
The Gators need to see this “non-freshmen” look translate on the field for the recently reinstated wideouts. Two true freshmen, Joshua Hammond and Freddie Swain, have already impressed. Hammond and Swain, however, got a jump on Cleveland and Wells by enrolling early and participating in spring practice.
As Del Rio implied, Cleveland (6-foot-2, 196 pounds) and Wells (6-foot, 206 pounds) bring size to the Florida receiving corps. If the recruiting evaluations are to be trusted, then Cleveland has the most potential of any of the four freshmen. The four-star prospect was rated the No. 2 wide receiver of the 2017 according to 247Sports’ composite rankings.
Cleveland’s highlight video had fans eagerly anticipating his arrival. And then the BB gun incident happened, seemingly putting his freshman season on hold by burying him on the depth chart.
It looks like Cleveland and Wells are about to be welcomed back after serving their punishment. The pressure’s on, however, for the pair to beat the freshman learning curve so the Gators can use those big bodies in the passing game.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
