Florida football recruiting: Gerald Mincey commits to bolster Gators’ line

The Florida Gators began their weekend with a (literally) big pickup, securing a commitment from hulking lineman Jovens Janvier on Friday.

By Sunday night, they had a second such commitment in hand, with fellow South Florida big man Marcus Givens giving the Gators a public pledge — in the form of a tweeted video of him giving his word to Dan Mullen and John Hevesy privately that is a heartwarming and cool look into how a commitment actually happens.

Warning: You may cry at how Mincey’s astonished grandmother reacts.

Mincey — who is a grandma’s boy through and through — is a three-star prospect who plays at Fort Lauderdale powerhouse Cardinal Gibbons, and is close with 2019 Florida signee Khris Bogle, who also suited up for Gibbons. (That pipeline could turn into something very useful for Florida down the road.)

And at 6’6” and weighing in at better than 300 pounds, Mincey is already a mauler at the high school level. His frame, tenacity, and mean streak — he finishes plays, for sure — all pop off of his tape.

Mincey is also the 14th commitment for Florida in the 2020 cycle, and with Janvier the current extent of the Gators’ offensive line class. That class remains No. 6 nationally.

And Mincey might not have been Florida’s top-of-list target at offensive tackle — Issiah Walker and Jalen Rivers, the Sunshine State’s two highest-rated offensive tackles per 247Sports, very recently made commitments to South Carolina and Miami respectively, making Florida securing Mincey perhaps partially about playing defense further down its board. But it is also true that Hevesy’s reputation for molding all sorts of talents into starters and then potential NFL players is a strong one, and one that should probably assuage most fears that Florida is lacking in its offensive line recruiting based on number of stars rather than body count.

Florida currently has its body count about where it wants it on the offensive line. So it’s really up to Hevesy — and his players — to prove that stars only matter so much.