{"id":298686,"date":"2026-06-06T21:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/298686\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:44:10","slug":"florida-flips-the-script-beats-lsu-for-4-star-lb-ellis-mcgaskin-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/298686\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida flips the script, beats LSU for 4-star LB Ellis McGaskin"},"content":{"rendered":"

For much of the spring, LSU<\/a> generated the most buzz around four-star linebacker Ellis McGaskin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then Florida<\/a> got him back on campus.<\/p>\n

The Mobile (Ala.) Williamson<\/a> standout took his official visit to Gainesville this weekend, and by the time he left, the Gators had completely changed the outlook of his recruitment.<\/p>\n

McGaskin has committed to Florida following the visit, giving the Gators a major recruiting win and another blue-chip addition to the defensive side of the ball.<\/p>\n

The four-star linebacker admitted he did not arrive in Gainesville planning to make a commitment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wasn\u2019t thinking about committing before the visit,\u201d McGaskin told Rivals. \u201cI was going to wait until I had all my official visits and then make my decision, but the official visit changed my mind. The visit was great, and it just gave me a new feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s relentless recruiting efforts played a major role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been in contact with me literally just about every day. It could be from Coach Gasparato, Coach Sumrall, someone in the front office or an analyst. It\u2019s constant communication every single day. They recruited me way harder than anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re taking time out of their day to communicate with me every day, that\u2019s showing something. I know Florida wants me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He felt that and saw that on the official visit. McGaskin saw all he needed to see. <\/p>\n

\u201cGetting to connect with the players, seeing how the coaches are outside of football and asking the players a bunch of questions about the team showed me a lot. Everyone wants to be there. Everyone feels a new energy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe culture is a work in progress, but it\u2019s something you can tell they\u2019re working toward. The new coaches are changing there and everyone shows love to each other. It felt great there.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGaskin is excited to play for the new staff in Gainesville<\/p>\n

Linebackers coach Greg Gasparato<\/a> helped seal the deal as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a very upfront guy,\u201d McGaskin said. \u201cHim and Coach Sumrall, honestly, the whole staff are like that. They\u2019re going to let you know exactly how it is. They\u2019re not going to beat around the bush.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of schools are just trying to get you to commit, but Florida tells you exactly how it is. Those are the kind of coaches I want to play for.\u201d<\/p>\n

What excites him most is what he believes Florida is building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like they\u2019re putting together a championship team. They stress that within the next three years, they\u2019re going to be in the championship, and I\u2019m a believer in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts with Coach Sumrall. Coach Sumrall is a big energy guy and a big people person. He is a winner. The players were saying as soon as Coach Sumrall got there, they felt a shift of energy. Florida is starting a big change.\u201d<\/p>\n

McGaskin now plans to shut down his recruitment and focus on his future in Gainesville.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For much of the spring, LSU generated the most buzz around four-star linebacker Ellis McGaskin. Then Florida got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[24786,125629,28,30,29,125630],"class_list":["post-298686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-al","tag-ellis-mcgaskin-27-williamson","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-williamson-lions-mobile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/298687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}