2021 Recruiting Profile: Florida Gators Commit TE Gage Wilcox
Gage Wilcox, tight end
School: Jefferson High School (Tampa, Fla.)
Height/Weight: 6-foot-4, 230 pounds
247Sports Composite Rating: Four stars, No. 11 safety, No. 46 state, No. 289 national
Recruitment History:
As one of his first offers recorded on 247Sports, the Florida Gators lept into the Gage Wilcox sweepstakes early, offering the then-rising-sophomore tight end a scholarship in 2018 and assuring the team would be on his mind as time progressed. As a four-star tight end who has demonstrated size and potential throughout his high-school career, Wilcox was one of the premier tight ends in the country.
Heavily recruited out of Tampa (Fla.), Wilcox received offers from multiple power-five institutions, including Florida, Georgia, Penn State, Miami, Kentucky, Alabama, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. He would go on to take his first unofficial visit to Florida in 2018 and continue taking visits throughout his sophomore and junior seasons.
Early on in his recruitment, Wilcox would release an initial top-10 list, including Florida, Iowa, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Auburn, LSU, Michigan, Miami, and Penn State.
After receiving multiple other offers throughout his junior campaign, Wilcox would take his time in making his decision before ultimately settling on Florida as his preferred destination, verbally committing to the Gators on February 28th of this year. Wilcox would put only one caption, "1000% committed."
Emerging as one of the top players in Florida's potential 2021 class, Wilcox took a visit to the University at the team's Junior Day event on March 7th, just days before all of recruiting would effectively shut down due to the on-going pandemic caused by the coronavirus.
In speaking with reporters following his Junior Day visit, Wilcox spoke highly of Florida, and especially tight ends coach Tim Brewster, who has become one of the team's best recruiters in the Dan Mullen era.
"Feels like home, excited to be back, can't wait to be here, stay here," Wilcox said of his visit with the Gators in March. "I'm liking [the] coaches, coach Brew[ster]'s a great guy. He's like a lost uncle, almost it feels like. It's crazy, when I talked to him at first it was like 'Holy crap, I know him'."
Wilcox will eventually sign with the Gators following his senior season this year if his commitment does remain, something the Gators will absolutely look forward to.
"When they offered me, I was like 'That's my school', that's been my dream school. Really just can't wait, always been good coaches, always liked them."
Where He Fits
Due to his height at 6-foot-4, Wilcox projects as a move tight end at the next level with the ability to become a complete tight end after hitting the weight room with strength and conditioning coach Nick Savage. At 230 pounds, he has plenty of room to grow.
While at Jefferson, Wilcox has proven to be an elite redzone target, hauling in seven touchdowns on the year in 2019. With his ability to catch the 50-50 balls, the Gators will be able to transition smoothly from tight end Kyle Pitts when the junior tight end inevitably declares for the 2021 NFL Draft following this upcoming season.
In the 2021 class thus far, the Gators have recruited and have received commitments from two tight ends including Wilcox and Jacksonville (Fla.) native Nick Elksnis. During his visit with the Gators, Wilcox admitted that he was recruiting Elksnis to the Gators, who would eventually leave his commitment at Penn State to join the team soon after.
While Wilcox isn't completely polished as a blocker, he does a fine job blocking in space at his current level and looks to improve further as he works his way through the collegiate scene.
"Yeah, I like blocking. I can do both," said Wilcox. "I like to catch the ball, of course, every tight end likes to catch the ball. But I like to see myself more blocking and in the game of that too."
One of the issues with the Gators last season was their lack of a run-blocking presence at the tight end position, often failing to open up a hole when needed during the year. With the added presence of Wilcox, the team should be off to a much better start in the future.