Comparing 2021 Florida Recruits to Former Gators: Daejon Reynolds

Who do Florida's 2021 recruits look like? Here are some Gators from the past that they may resemble when it's time to put on orange and blue.

In today's offenses, you need a deep threat. 

A guy that your play caller feels comfortable calling 40-50-yard passes to at any moment in the game. It opens everything else up when safeties and corners fear somebody taking the top off of them. 

For UF's last national championship win, wide receiver Louis Murphy was that guy. 

Often, in games where Urban Meyer's offense ran the ball with quarterback Tim Tebow, running backs Jeff Demps and Chris Rainey, as well as handoffs to wide receiver Percy Harvin, Murphy cleared the space. 

Short passes as well to guys like wide receivers Riley Cooper and David Nelson fit Meyer's philosophy. He kept things short and simple, and allowed his uber-talented athletes to make plays in space. That's where Murphy came in. 

With defensive backs constantly afraid of a potential deep ball from Tebow to Murphy over the top, it made those underneath plays easier to execute. For coach Dan Mullen's offense, he now could have something similar in wide receiver Daejon Reynolds. 

Reynolds is not just a deep threat, he is a complete receiver. But in this offense, his most valuable asset could be his surprising strength in the air, given his length and 6-foot-3 frame, and his straight-line speed. Reynolds has that rare ability to find his way behind corners. Watch these two highlights. 

In this first one, Reynolds does an excellent job of getting back on top of the corner once he gets a step. It cuts off the defensive backs path back to the football and makes the likelihood of a recovery play much less likely for the defense. 

Murphy was excellent at this at UF and it created plenty of big throws. 

Now watch Reynolds in the air. The biggest thing to see here is his timing which is executed perfectly, despite being in between two defenders. This gets the most out of Reynolds' jump, by being at peak height with great body control and determination to secure the ball when he needs to be. 

In Mullen's offense, with how similar it is to Meyer's, this type of player is a key asset. So far at Florida, Mullen's offense have been methodical. Long drives with small gains across the field have been the success story. 

However, with somebody like Reynolds, a home-run element can come back in stylish fashion. Particularly when you add in the idea of Reynolds playing alongside big-play quarterbacks like Anthony Richardson or Carlos Del Rio, this could mean a more explosive look in Florida's future.