Dan Mullen has not yet finalized his first recruiting class at Florida but he will have a much fuller roster than expected for winter workouts based on news out of Gainesville this week.
The school confirmed to the Associated Press that four suspended football players (running back Jordan Scarlett, wide receiver Rick Wells and linebackers James Houston and Ventrell Miller) have enrolled in school for the spring semester and have rejoined the team after facing felony fraud charges that surfaced prior to last season. The group above was part of several Gators who entered into a pretrial intervention program in October that seemed to pave the way for their return to the team.
The case originally involved the misuse of scholarship money at a bookstore, with some nine players total caught up in making improper charges on student IDs and selling said items for cash. While some members of the group opted to declare for the NFL draft like star wideout Antonio Callaway, others have opted to transfer from Florida or, in the case of the four listed above, even return to school. The AP notes that a fifth player, defensive lineman Keivonnis Davis, is enrolled at UF but is not with the team after recovering from an injury.
Scarlett is undoubtedly the biggest name of the returnees to the program after leading the Gators in rushing back in 2016. He’ll be a redshirt junior in 2018 and compete to start in Mullen’s new offensive system with fellow backs like Lamical Perine and others.