Early Signing Period 2017: RB Iverson Clement signs with Florida Gators

The Florida Gators landed four-star running back Iverson Clement’s commitment way back in April 2017. On Wednesday, at the dawn of 2017’s early signing period, the Gators nabbed his signature.

Clement, who hails from Mount Holly, New Jersey, and attends Rancocas Valley Regional High School in the Garden State, is one of two four-star running backs in Florida’s 2017 recruiting class — Georgia bruiser Dameon Pierce, who faxed in his signed National Letter of Intent prior to Clement on Wednesday, is the other.

And if Pierce is the thunder in the class, Clement is more like the lightning.

Clement and Pierce will step into a backfield that should return Lamical Perine and a returning-from-injury Malik Davis in 2018, but one that loses Mark Thompson and is likely to lose the still-suspended Jordan Scarlett, who has yet to decide whether he will leap to the NFL. Both signees should play for the position coach who originally got them to sign with the Gators, though, as Florida running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider is widely expected to be the lone holdover from Jim McElwain’s last staff in the first year of the Dan Mullen regime.

Clement was Florida’s fifth signee of the Early Signing Period to be announced on Wednesday, and is part of a 2018 Gators recruiting class that is currently 13 commits deep and ranked No. 30 by the 247Sports Composite rankings.