Alex McCalister has committed to Florida, according to ESPN's Derek Tyson. McCalister chose UF over offers from Georgia Tech and North Carolina. That gives the Gators 20 commitments in the Class of 2012, 12 of which are on the defensive side of the ball. Don’t worry; offense is coming later.
Fellow Gator commit Bryan Cox, Jr. hinted, well, pretty much gave it away on his Twitter account, that McCalister would be committing to the Gators today. The two defensive ends visitited UF this past weekend.
McCalister is a rangy defensive end at 6’6”, 212 pounds. He has tremendous length and a body frame similar to former Gator Lynden Trail when he signed with Florida in 2010. Although McCalister has the range and length, he doesn’t have the overall size and build to make an early impact on defense. He’ll likely need some time to develop and add some weight.
The McCalister commitment gives Florida four defensive ends in the 2012 class -- Cox, Jonathan Bullard and Quinteze Williams being the others -- but the Gators aren’t done recruiting the position. Will Muschamp is still in hot pursuit of Florida State commit Dante Fowler, who visited Florida over the weekend. Fowler said he remains 100 percent committed to Florida State, but will do the "hat pick" routine on National Signing Day. Actions speak louder than words here.
Florida remains in the mix for defensive ends Darius Hamilton and Leonard Williams. Another name to keep an eye on is Junior Gnonkonde. Gnonkonde was Georgia Tech’s first Class of 2012 commitment, but recently had his offer pulled because his test score was too low. John White, Gnonkonde’s legal guardian, told the AJC’s Michael Carvell that if Florida decides to pursue the former Georgia Tech commit, “they would offer him a scholarship with the understanding that if he doesn’t get his score up high enough, he couldn’t come.”