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The David Duo: David Turner and David Cooper Have Elevated Florida's Defensive Line Recruiting

Florida's defensive line recruiting has gotten significantly better since the additions of David Turner and David Cooper to the coaching staff.

Donavon Keiser

The David Duo: David Turner and David Cooper Have Elevated Florida's Defensive Line Recruiting
The David Duo: David Turner and David Cooper Have Elevated Florida's Defensive Line Recruiting /

Florida defensive line recruiting has been a hot topic of recently. Not only did the Gators pull in an elite crop of trench-talent in the 2020 class, but Florida is also a top choice for many of the highly-valued prospects on the defensive line in the upcoming cycle.

The two coaches responsible for the uptick in landing elite talent on the defensive line are none other than defensive line coach David Turner and assistant director of player personnel David Cooper. 

To begin this story of the now elite pair of coaches, we must start by taking it back to last January. At that time, Dan Mullen announced that veteran coach David Turner would be his new defensive line coach following the departure of Sal Sunseri, who had left to take a job coaching outside linebackers at the University of Alabama. 

Many considered Sunseri to be an oddball among the Florida staff, as Mullen needed to fill the spot and simply had no else to take the job at the time of his hiring as head coach. 

Sunseri's departure the following offseason was no surprise, and Mullen immediately capitalized on the opportunity to build up his Florida staff by bringing Turner to Gainesville. 

Many Florida fans were somewhat skeptical about the hire, as Turner was most recently coaching at the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2018 before joining Mullen's staff at Florida. 

Others found Turner's long resume as an SEC coach with multiple stints under Mullen as a sign that Turner was ready for another go-round in the SEC. After all, Turner's resume included the developing future NFL stars in Fletcher Cox, Myles Garrett, Chris Jones, and many others throughout his 34 years of coaching.

Still, with the lackluster recruiting from the former McElwain era still fresh on Florida fans' minds, they wanted to know how well Turner would recruit for the Gators. 

Turner answered the call early, only taking a few months before flipping his first prospect, four-star defensive tackle Lamar Goods, to play in orange and blue. Goods had been committed to the Kentucky Wildcats prior to flipping to the Gators after an official visit in mid-June. 

Despite living over 17 hours from Gainesville in Oakdale, CT, Goods never wavered in his commitment to the Gators and signed during the Early Signing Period. The 6-3, 310-pound defensive tackle also enrolled early and is now participating in mat drills during Florida's offseason training program. 

And that pickup was just the beginning for Turner.

Turner went on to pick up targets such as four-star DT Jalen Lee in December and four-star defensive end Princley Umanmielen in January to close out the 2020 recruiting class. 

Lee, a 6-3, 294 lb. trench monster from the Louisiana Bayou, was a late flip to the Gators after he de-committed from in-state LSU just a few weeks prior to Early National Signing Day. 

Thanks to the recruiting prowess of Turner, the Gators were an obvious choice for Lee, as Turner had built a relationship even while Lee was committed to LSU. Lee committed to the Gators on December 5th and signed with Florida on Early National Signing Day. 

Umanmielen was the sole UF target to commit to the Gators on National Signing Day as he chose the Gators over Baylor, Texas, and Auburn. The lengthy DE was a priority target to finish off the 2020 class to add to an already loaded Florida defensive line class. 

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Florida ended its 2020 DL class by signing five-star DT Gervon Dexter, high-risk-high-reward DE Antwaun Powell, in-state DT Johnnie Brown, Umanmielen, Goods, and Lee. While Dexter is noted as the prized five-star signing, every other prospect is considered a consensus four-star.

While Turner was out finishing up recruiting for the 2020 class, the newly-hired assistant director of player personnel, David Cooper, focused on establishing relationships with some of the Gators' top targets in the class of 2021. 

Cooper is responsible for watching film and staying in touch with many prospects, especially transfers and defensive line targets. After the clock struck midnight on September 1st, Cooper and other UF staffers were allowed to make contact with juniors. 

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Recent commit, 2021 three-star DE Justus Boone, was the first of Cooper's targets to commit to the Gators, as Boone went public to Florida last week. 

In the role of an off-the-field staffer, Cooper is unable to make contact with recruits anywhere outside of the UF campus, but his presence is still felt through social media and text. Cooper reaches out to many defensive line targets on a daily basis to recruit them alongside Turner. Thanks to his engaging tweets Cooper has become a fan favorite on Gator Twitter thanks to his jokes and insight on UF recruiting. 

Both Cooper and Turner have been behind the #PassRushU and #DBLOK posts, which are used often in recruiting to show how the Gators have developed UF defensive linemen in NFL players. These edits have caught the attention of many targets that Florida is pursuing, including IMG Academy's highly-rated Tunmise Adeleye. 

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Turner and Cooper's work is further proof that the recruiting gap is closing fast between Florida and other top programs in CFB. Florida reeled the top DL class in 2020 and the pair of David's have their eyes set on repeating that success for the 2021 class. 

Florida is in the mix for many of the top 2021 defensive linemen, many who will visit UF this weekend for Junior Day. Some of the defensive linemen on the March 7th list include Boone, the four-star Adeleye, four-star Keeshawn Silver, five-star Leonard Taylor, four-star Savion Collins, four-star Tim Keenan, and three-star Victoine Brown.

Cooper is a prime example of what a productive off-the-field staffer can bring to a program, which is why it is so important to continually make moves to bring in analysts and other recruiting staffers. 

Both Turner and Cooper are responsible for building a class to replace the seniors leaving after this season who include Kyree Campbell, Marlon Dunlap Jr., Elijah Conliffe, and Tedarrell Slaton. 

Florida currently holds commitments from three-star DT Christopher Thomas, Boone, and four-star DE Tyreak Sapp for the 2021 class. With four seniors leaving after the 2020 season, you will see Florida take a quite a few defensive linemen in the 2021 class, just like last year. As the visitor list shows, the Gators can get picky with which targets they would like to pursue in the trenches. 

The work that Turner and Cooper are putting in is paying dividends for the Gators and it will be a sight to see as the Gators continue to add to their No. 2 ranked 2021 recruiting class. 

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Donavon Keiser
DONAVON KEISER

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