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Chomping at Bits: Florida targets Jacob Eason, Eddy Pineiro on verge of decisions

What should we make of the recruiting updates from the two biggest names on Florida's board at the moment?

By Andy Hutchins
Student Sports

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Jacob Eason, Eddy Pineiro to make final decisions this week: Two tweets hit Florida Twitter like thunderbolts late Monday. In the first, coveted JUCO kicker Eddy Pineiro announced his decommitment from Alabama.

In the second, Georgia commit Jacob Eason announced he would announce his college choice on Tuesday.

The obvious difference between the two notes is that Pineiro's breaks a longstanding commitment; decommitting from Alabama now and only really makes sense if Pineiro is about to commit elsewhere, because it'd be far simpler and cleaner for him to merely announce he's remaining committed to the Crimson Tide.

And given that the only other school in hot pursuit of Pineiro — a Miami native who has largely played soccer to this point, but can make kicks from 70-plus yards — is Florida, it makes sense that his Crystal Ball is now fully orange and blue.

With Eason, though, the choice not to decommit feels like one more sign that Georgia was able to keep him in the fold despite a well-publicized official visit to Florida two weeks ago. Eason officially visited Georgia last weekend, and while there's no indication that he and new Georgia offensive coordinator Jim Chaney actually met, new Georgia head coach Kirby Smart hiring Chaney during Eason's visit likely showed his coveted recruit that there is a way forward in Athens.

Eason's path to instant playing time would seem more clear at Florida, where he would have to beat out incumbent Treon Harris, walk-on Luke Del Rio, and early enrollee freshmen Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask to start prior to Will Grier's projected return from suspension. But the road to the field at Georgia isn't that much harder, with only big-name recruit Brice Ramsey — who has struggled in limited action in 2015 — and the repeatedly benched Greyson Lambert likely to begin spring practice ahead of Eason on the depth chart.

And with Florida's edge in opportunity seeming more marginal than dramatic, my sense is that the 18-month commitment Eason has kept to the Dawgs has instilled in him a sense of obligation to stay true to a school that fired the coach with the best winning percentage over more than a single season in its history after yet another winning season in 2015. If so, Florida's simply going to have to show Eason the error of his ways in three or four meetings in Jacksonville.

Vernon Hargreaves could be consensus All-American: He'd be Florida's first since Joe Haden and Brandon Spikes. (Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel)

Projecting Gators' NFL Draft decisions: Florida could lose more than half of its defense, and three quarters of its secondary. (Nick De La Torre, Gator Country: Juniors | Redshirt Juniors)

Jim McElwain adds AP SEC Coach of the Year honor: No one cares about the AP's conference honors. (Robbie Andreu, The Gainesville Sun)

Injured Florida runner improving: Lauren Brasure, a Florida cross country runner who was hit by a car last week in Gainesville, is now standing with the help of occupational therapists, according to her family. That's great news. (#LaurenStrong Facebook page)

Your Gators moments of zen:

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