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- Post-Spring/Transfer Portal Ranking of Florida position-by-position
- Getting to Know: Byron Louis
- Mock Signing Class 3.0
The Gator Nation will enter the 2025 football season with more optimism than the fans have seen in Gainesville in several years. Florida finished last season with four straight wins, including two against top 25 opponents LSU and Ole Miss, to finish with an 8-5 record.
That strong finish on the field helped to propel Florida into the Top 10 in team recruiting rankings.
It also helped Billy Napier and Company do the unimaginable; Florida signed two five-star high school receivers in a single class.
Despite securing multiple top-five classes, including No. 1 overall classes, Urban Meyer and Will Muschamp were never able to accomplish that feat.
The last time that happened was 21 years ago, in the Class of 2003, when Ron Zook and staff brought in Andre Caldwell and Chad Jackson.
After a very promising first year for Lagway, the most logical thing for UF to was go get top-end targets for him to throw too, and that’s exactly what they did by signing five-star Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson.
Now being ranked a five-star, and living up to a five-star billing are two completely different animals.
If early returns are any indication this duo is well on their way to fulfilling their ranking promise.
Former Florida cornerback Vernell Brown Jr., who was also on the support staff of both Dan Mullen and Naiper, and father of Brown III, said that both his son and Wilson are two of the hardest-working guys he knows. “They’ve just been known as some young talented guys who are coming in and working and showing up and showing out,” Brown Jr. said.
Both Wilson and Brown were early enrollers on campus wanting to have the chance to get to know the offense and build their snap count with the depth of the receiver room. “While Dallas and Vernell are competitive, they are also humble and know the offense has guys, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going to be fighting for snaps every chance they get,” Brown Jr. said.
The Orange and Blue game showed that Wilson and Brown had fought for snaps, with both playing prominent roles for their respective teams.
Over on the orange team, Wilson was the talk of the town, totaling 10 catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns. Brown III also had a solid day, leading the Blue team with four catches for 34 yards – 30 of those coming after the catch.
Napier took notice of Wilson’s O&B Game contribution.
“He [Wilson] made some plays, and not all those were routine. I thought some of those were really impressive. He’s a big, physical player, you know? And I think the toughness that he showed in practice I’ve been impressed with his football intelligence, how he’s been able to retain information and obviously you don’t produce like that today unless you’ve been really working hard, so he’s had a good offseason and when given opportunities today, I thought he took full advantage of it. So we’ve seen a lot of that in practice.
“Like I told you guys before, these rankings are a little more accurate than they’ve ever been and I’d say that’s what a Five-Star looks like.”
It may have been on display more prominently during the spring game, but throughout their time on campus, each player felt like they were able to get comfortable with how they like to run their race.
Wilson has a big body and excels at just being a playmaker wherever he is needed on the field, while Brown III excels as a route runner and makes plays while the ball is already in his hands. “I think his (Vernell Brown III) ability to get off the ball and separate himself from defenders lets
him make plays after the catch. I think all those things allow him to be able to excel at this level,” Brown Jr. said.
Even with the spring game’s success, both guys are still constantly trying to get better and in Brown III’s case, that means bulking up a bit. When talking about his son’s weight, his father said, “You know for Vernell I think it’s more about body development. I think skill-wise there are always things you can get better at but he’s pretty polished, the biggest thing would be continuing to
build the body.”
Wilson on the other hand has already been bulking up and has gained around 15 pounds since arriving on campus.
While the two receivers have very different game styles, the way they spend their time off the field is very similar. “Vernell is a guy about family, so when he’s not doing anything, he likes being around his family. Dallas is also a very family and friend-orientated guy. The whole class honestly is very tight, they spend a lot of time outside of workouts in the facility together,” said Brown Jr.
This sense of community and togetherness that both players have is something that Napier has been trying to instill in the locker room since arriving at UF, and it’s hard to think of two guys that better embody that than Wilson and Brown III.
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