By Steve Megargee

updated 5:00 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2007

Florida’s Urban Meyer already has rebuilt three programs in his brief head coaching career.

Imagine what he can accomplish once he finally has a roster full of players he recruited.

Meyer never got much of a chance to coach his recruits at Bowling Green or Utah because he only stayed two years at each school. He won a national title his second year at Florida with a senior-laden roster that featured many of current Illinois coach Ron Zook’s recruits.

Now that most of Zook’s guys have finished their careers, Meyer finally will have the opportunity to put together a lineup that primarily includes his players. He has put together a roster that should leave the rest of the Southeastern Conference feeling very nervous.

Florida signed the nation’s top class Wednesday with a haul that included four five-star and 16 four-star prospects. That haul comes one year after the Gators finished second to Southern California in the final recruiting standings.

Consider this recruiting season a perfect storm for Florida, which won a national title the same year that Florida State and Miami went 7-6 and overhauled their coaching staffs.

“They’re an up-and-coming team,” four-star linebacker Brandon Hicks of Jacksonville, Fla., told GatorBait.net this week. “I think they’re stacked with enough talent to keep winning the way they’ve been.”

All that talent should help Meyer build the kind of offense he has wanted to feature since arriving from Utah.

Meyer built his reputation on offense. Utah averaged 45.3 points per game during an undefeated 2004 season that helped turn quarterback Alex Smith into a No. 1 overall draft pick.

But the Gators have relied on their defense during the first two years of Meyer’s tenure.

Former quarterback Chris Leak wasn’t an ideal fit for the spread option that Meyer employed at Utah. Though to their mutual credit, they still adjusted well enough to lead Florida to a national title.

Florida didn’t exceed the 28-point mark against a BCS opponent last year before exploding for a combined 79 points in the SEC title game and the BCS championship game. The Gators won because they ranked among the top five teams in the nation in run defense and pass efficiency defense.

Now they should put together an offense that’s as good as their defense.

Quarterback Tim Tebow and running back Percy Harvin already provided glimpses of their gamebreaking potential last season. The arrivals of four-star running backs Chris Rainey and Bo Williams, plus four-star receiver Deonte Thompson, should give the Gators even more playmakers on offense.

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The addition of two five-star prospects on the other side of the ball – defensive tackle Torrey Davis and defensive end Carlos Dunlap – will help restock a defense that lost many of its top 2006 performers to the NFL.

And we hadn’t even mentioned the signings of two of the top available quarterbacks (Cameron Newton and John Brantley) and the nation’s No. 1 offensive guard (James Wilson).

“Obviously last year we saw a lot of production from our freshmen,” Meyer said. “We have taken a new attitude toward recruiting this year that every freshman in my opinion will play next year. Obviously that won’t happen, but we are taking that approach.

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“It used to be, ‘Boy, I will be able to save this guy,’ but that’s over. If it’s in the best interest of the player, then maybe we will redshirt them. But we want to play them.”

Florida’s second national title came a decade after its first championship. The Gators may not have to wait nearly as long to celebrate again.

The Gators’ ability to follow a championship season with a championship signing class headlined a recruiting season that featured a flurry of late switches in commitments. Here are the rest of the top 10 stories to emerge from National Signing Day.

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