Reranking the Florida Gators' 2009 recruiting class

The 2009 Florida Gators' recruiting class was a small class but one that seemed to be loaded with blue-chip talent, and that was to be expected when you are the defending national champions.

But did that class live up to the lofty expectations?

GatorsTerritory takes a deeper look into how those players panned out and where they would be ranked now had we known what the future held.

5-stars: Defensive tackle Gary Brown, wide receiver Andre Debose and linebacker Jelani Jenkins.

4-stars: The class had nine four-stars, consisting of defensive back Dee Finley, LB Jon Bostic, offensive linemen Xavier Nixon, Nick Alajajian and Jonotthan Harrison, quarterback Jordan Reed, running back Mike Gillislee, DT Edwin Herbert and athlete Joshua Evans.

3-stars: There were five in the class: Tight end Desmond Parks, defensive end Kedric Johnson, WR Stephen Alli, and OL Jon Halapio and Kyle Koehne.

5-stars: This class was originally tabbed with the three 5-stars listed above; however, after seeing how those players’ careers went, there weren’t any on the reranking.

That’s not to say that these players didn't flash the potential that had Rivals so high on them. But they just couldn’t put it together enough to warrant retaining that previous ranking.

4-stars: As previously mentioned, Andre Debose and Jelani Jenkins dropped from five-star status and they landed here, as four-stars.

They join Jon Bostic, Xavier Nixon, Jonotthan Harrison, Jordan Reed, Mike Gillislee and Josh Evans, who kept their ranking coming out of high school. Jon Halapio is the lone three-star that got the bump up to four-stars.

Debose had an extremely successful career as a return man, setting the UF school record for kick return touchdowns in a career with four, and even added a punt return TD in his senior season.

But you don’t get five-stars to just be a return man, and that is why Debose dropped down in this reranking. Even though he was so successful on kick returns, he was never able to make a consistent impact in the offense. Over the course of his six-year career at Florida, Debose only totaled 30 catches for 540 yards and 4 TDs, which is not at all what we were expecting when we labeled him a five-star.

Jelani Jenkins redshirted his freshman year, but went on to have a solid career at Florida. He had a total of 182 tackles (109 solo), including 15.5 for loss, 6 sacks and 3 interceptions, one of which he returned 75 yards for a TD. He was then drafted in the 4th round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins, where he had a solid four years before becoming an unsigned free agent in 2017.

Bostic, Nixon, Harrison, Reed and Evans where all multi-year starters for the Gators that made a big impact while they were on campus. Gillislee is the only 1-year starter that remained a four-star, but he is in this group for a good reason. In 2012, he was the first Gator running back to break 1,000 yards since Ciatrick Fason did it in 2004.

All of these players made NFL rosters out of college and played at least three years in the league before some of their careers ended.

As for the lone three-star that got bumped up to four-star status, it’s pretty obvious why. After redshirting his freshman year, Jon Halapio was a four-year contributor and three-year starter for the Gators, playing in 51 games and starting 43 of them, all at right guard. Halapio played 6 seasons in the NFL, making his biggest impact in 2019, where he started 15 games at center for the New York Giants.

3-stars: A couple of prospects remained three-stars (Stephen Alli and Kyle Koehne), and only one fell from a four-star to a three-star and that was Dee Finley.

Alli and Koehne were career Gators, staying there all the way through graduation and both didn’t play a huge role, but were important to team depth and special teams. Alli saw the majority of his playing time throughout his career on all aspects of special teams. Koehne, who was used mostly as a backup throughout is time in Gainesville, played in 51 games, starting 10 of them in his five-year UF career.

When it comes to Dee Finley, his journey to and through UF was an interesting one. Finley was originally a member of the 2008 signing class that was ranked as the No. 3 class in the nation, but did not make it in at that time. He ended up going to Milton Academy Prep School for one year before rejoining the Gators as a member of the 2009 class.

Finley came in with high expectations as an Under Amour All-American, but just never seemed to be able to find his footing. He played on special teams and as a backup linebacker/safety, recording just 12 tackles in his two years at UF before deciding to transfer to Tuskegee College and is now no longer playing football.

2-stars: Two prospects fell from four-star status to become two-stars in the reranking: OL Nick Alajajian and Edwin Herbert, and Kedric Johnson (originally a 3-star) fell as well.

Alajajian was an Army All-American that was a top-five player at his position that never lived up to the hype. He appeared almost exclusively on special teams during his four-year career with the Gators, only playing on the field goal team. He recorded just one start before moving over to defensive tackle just before his senior year, and didn’t record any stats after the move.

Edwin Herbert was a junior college transfer at DT that never really got anything going. Herbert was only at UF for one year, playing in just one game and recording a couple of tackles before he took a medical redshirt and transferred to DII Fort Hays State University, where he totaled 54 tackles, 3.5 for loss and 0.5 sacks over the next 2 years.

Johnson, who is the lone three-star that fell down to two-star status, never really saw consistent playing time while on campus. He redshirted his freshman year, and then recorded 9 tackles, 3.5 for loss and 2 sacks over the next two seasons before missing all of 2012 because of an injury that was sustained during pre-season training camp.

After the 2012 season Johnson took a medical hardship waiver and ended his football career.

N/A: As a coach or fan, you never want to see someone in this category, especially not a former 5-star, but that is exactly where Gary Brown has landed.

Brown came in to Florida as one of the most highly sought after prospects in the country, being a top-25 overall player and top-3 at his position (defensive tackle) but, unfortunately, things didn’t turn out the way the Gators had hoped.

Brown redshirted his freshman year and seemed primed to make a huge impact as a redshirt freshman, but that train was derailed before it even had a chance to leave the station. In February of 2010, Brown was arrested on two counts of misdemeanor battery and was later dismissed from the team, thus ending his football career before he even got to take a snap in a Gators uniform.

The other player that landed on this list was TE Desmond Parks. Parks, who redshirted in his first year at UF, only saw action in 2 games during the 2010 season as a RS Freshman and didn’t record any stats.

In March of 2011, then Gators head coach Will Muschamp announced that Parks would be taking a medical hardship waiver after having three wrist surgeries in two years, effectively ending his football career.

Stay tuned to GatorsTerritory.