Trevion Cooley, the four-star Knightdale High School running back, committed to the University of Louisville on Monday.
Cooley was thought to be a heavy Duke lean for weeks before Dan Mullen and the Florida Gators offered in mid-May.
Despite offers from Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina and a number of other Power 5 schools, Cooley chose an up and coming Cardinals team looking to re-enter the national spotlight. The 5’11”, 205-pound prospect will likely make a significant impact for Scott Satterfield’s squad up in Kentucky, but adds to an ongoing list of whiffs at running back for the Gators.
Florida was able to land former Miami Hurricanes five-star Lorenzo Lingard in the transfer portal this offseason, though it failed to sign a running back in its 2020 recruiting class. With the departure of La’Mical Perine, Florida’s cupboard will be pretty thin at running back in 2020 and likely 2021 as well.
The Gators lose a lot of firepower on offense, but do return a quickly improving Kyle Trask at quarterback and a talented defense this Fall that is favored to compete with Georgia for the top spot in the division yet again.
If Mullen and company want to take over the SEC East and get to Atlanta any time soon, signing a top running back is a must. However, Coach Greg Knox has failed to sign multiple top prospects at the position since his arrival in Gainesville with his good friend Mullen.
Knox joined Mullen’s staff at Mississippi State back in 2009 and followed him over to Florida, though Gator fans have been clamoring for his removal for quite some time now. Granted the two are very close friends, it will be interesting to see if Mullen makes any changes to his staff at the running back position this year.
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