Tampa Blake High School TE Michael McFarland (6'6, 230 lbs) has agreed to a gray shirt. McFarland is ranked 24th best TE in the country and the 84th best player in the state of Florida, according to Rivals.com.

A &gray shirt& means that the player who was supposed to enroll in the Summer or Fall, while instead enroll in January of the following year. Further, Michael will count as a 2011 commitment.

There a couple of reasons why Michael may have been asked to gray shirt:

One, as I stated here, Michael is still very raw and would have most likely redshirted. Moreover, he is still quite weak and needs to add some weight to his 6'6 body. So instead of wasting a year in the gym, they gave him a workout plan and asked him to work with a trainer.

Two, the staff expects spots to be filled. The Gators currently have 26 commitments and are expected to take between 28-31 players and the NCAA regulates that only 85 players can be scholarship. Perhaps the staff is preparing for a few more commitments from top prospects around the country.

What this means for the Gators: Desmond Parks and Gerald Christian will be asked to take a lot of reps, which may be a lot to ask for a redshirt freshman and a true freshman. Furthermore, we may see redshirt freshman QB Jordan Reed step on to the field as a tight end. He started practicing with the tight ends at the end of last season and with only two tight ends it may be necessary for him to play.