You can add a third name to the list of elite prospects that have decommitted from Dan Mullen’s program over the previous 24 hours. The latest setback on the recruiting trail for the Florida program comes from four-star receiver Trevonte Rucker of Ocala. Rucker is rated as the nation’s No. 5 receiver and the state of Florida’s No. 6 prospect in the 2021 recruiting cycle by 247Sports, Rucker was the highest-rated prospect in the Gators’ recruiting class leading up to his decommitment announcement. Following the news of Chris Steele’s decision to leave Dan Mullen’s program, Florida has now lost over half of its commitments in the 2021 recruiting class. The first domino to fall was elite defensive end Bryce Langston, who decommitted on Thursday which was followed by the decommitment of Dink Jackson on Friday. Following these three decommitments, the Gators are down to just two commitments in the 2021 recruiting cycle. Rucker announced the news with the following message on Twitter: “I am truly blessed to be in this process and I just want say I’m thankful for having an offer from the Gators but I will be decommitting from the University of Florida. “No interviews.” While none of the players have referenced the Steele situation when announcing their decommitments from Florida, clearly the incident has them second-thinking their decisions to play in Gainesville. However, considering there is so much time before these players have to sign their scholarships, there’s no doubt Mullen and company can weather this storm and rally back any of the lost commitments. However, as it stands now, the negative perception some have of Florida at the moment, these decommitments are only going to add fuel to that fire.<doc-sep>The Florida football program has been hemorrhaging recruits over the past few days. Bryce Langston, one of the top prospects in the 2021 class, decommitted from the Gators earlier this week. Not long after, Dink Jackson followed suit and left the Gators 2021 class. But that’s not all. Four-star wide receiver Trevonte Rucker took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to announce his decommitment from the Gators. “I am truly blessed to be in this process and I just want to say I’m thankful for having an offer from the Gators but I will be de-committing from the University of Florida,” Rucker said on Twitter. Rucker is the No. 40 overall recruit and the No. 5 wide receiver in the 2021 class, according to 247Sports Rankings. At one point, Florida held the No. 2 class in the 2021 cycle. However, after three decommitments in the past two days and five in the past month, the Gators have just two recruits left in the class. Not long ago, head coach Dan Mullen called out Georgia for its recruiting practices. “I’d think we did a poor job recruiting if guys were coming in and then immediately walking out the door because it was something different than what they thought it would be and we lied to them during recruiting, or we sold them on a dream that wasn’t true,” Mullen said via the Tampa Bay Times. Now it looks like he’s the one having issues.<doc-sep>Gator fans searching for some good news following the departure of freshman defensive back and former high school All-American Chris Steele won’t find it in recruiting. That’s because one of the nation’s top prospects for the 2021 recruiting class just decommitted from Florida. Bryce Langston could not have picked a worse time to decommit from Dan Mullen’s program, but be that as it may, Florida’s 2021 recruiting class is now down to four pledges following this news. The 6-foot-2, 237-pound Ocala native is rated as the No. 2 overall prospect from Florida and the No. 10 prospect nationally by 247Sports. Langston originally committed to the Gators in early December. “After the long days and night of me thinking about the recruiting process, talking to my parents and coaches, I will announce that I will be decommitting from the University of Florida. Respect my decision,” Langston tweeted out with the note that his recruitment is 100 percent open. Langston has recently seen his recruitment pick up with visits to Florida State and scholarship offers from Auburn and Tennessee in recent weeks.<doc-sep>The Florida Gators suffered their second de-commitent from the 2021 class in as many days on Friday when Melbourne (Fla.) Eau Gallie athlete Dink Jackson backed off his early verbal commitment. He announced the move through his Twitter account that afternoon. "I’ve decided to decommit from the University of Florida," Jackson stated. "My recruitment is open. No interviews please." Jackson recently gave UF that commitment back in February after landing an offer from the staff earlier this year. A few months later, Jackson is back on the market. Jackson has a host of early offers including Alabama, Florida State, LSU, Miami, and many others. The 6-foot-2, 185-pounder also made his first visit to Florida back in March, and has not visited any other schools. He was offered as an outside linebacker by the Gators. His main recruiters in Gainesville are area recruiter Greg Knox and linebackers coach Christian Robinson. 247Sports currently ranks Jackson as the Nation's No. 203 overall prospect in the 2021 class and the No. 19 athlete. Florida is now down to three commitments in the 2021 class. Those pledges include Ocala (Fla.) Vanguard four-star wide receiver Trevonte Rucker, Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas four-star defensive end Tyreak Sapp, and Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy three-star offensive lineman George Jackson. Jackson is now the fourth 2021 prospect to back off their UF pledge joining Miami (Fla.) Northwestern four-star linebacker Terrance Lewis, Stone Mountain (Ga.) Stephenson four-star defensive back Kamar Wilcoxson, and Ocala (Fla.) Vanguard four-star defensive end Bryce Langston.<doc-sep>
*Update* Yet another 2021 Gators prospect has decommitted since this article was originally published earlier on Friday. Four-star wide receiver Trevonte Rucker joins Jackson and Langston as the third 2021 prospect to open up his recruitment in the past two days. Rucker is a four-star out of Vanguard High School in Ocala, Florida. Thursday was quite the day in Gainesville, Florida as former four-star Chris Steele entered his name into the transfer portal, beginning a day of madness. At around noontime, word got out that Steele would be leaving the program, just days after roommate Jalon Jones was accused of two sexual assault attempts. This sent the internet into complete chaos amongst Georgia and Florida fans alike. You couldn’t count the number of tweets by Bulldog fans mimicking Mullen’s March quote on recruiting. “I’d think we did a poor job recruiting if guys were coming in and then immediately walking out the door because it was something different than what they thought it would be and we lied to them during recruiting, or we sold them on a dream that wasn’t true,” – Dan Mullen. — UGA Football Live (@UGAfootballLive) May 9, 2019 However, this was only the beginning as we have now learned. Dink Jackson, a highly ranked 2021 prospect, has just announced he is decommiting from Florida. I’ve decided to decommit from the University of Florida. My recruitment is open. No interviews please. — Dink9⚠️🏈🙏🏾 (@dink_jackson) May 10, 2019 A four-star athlete from Melbourne, Florida, Jackson ranks No. 27 in the state for the class of 2021. He is the second 2021 recruit to decommit from the Gators in the past 24 hours after Steele’s decision to enter the transfer portal and Bryce Langston’s announcement Thursday. Buckle up everyone, this could get interesting.