Florida football will host the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday for its final home game of the 2022 season. The festivities that Senior Day and the Salute the Service tribute provide will also be an excellent opportunity for [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and Co. to utilize their one last chance to share the Swamp experience with the top prep recruits in the nation.
Among those expected to join in the crowd at Florida Field is four-star quarterback [autotag]Jake Merklinger[/autotag] out of Savannah (Georgia) Calvary Day School. The 6-foot-2.5-inch, 195-pound blue chipper in the 2024 recruiting class recently told Swamp247 that he is locked into his second visit to Gainesville this season.
The rising junior also made a stop in Hogtown for the opener against the Utah Utes — an impressive upset victory that undoubtedly gave those in attendance a bullish impression of what the new administration is capable of. Merklingler’s experience at that game as well as his other experiences with the program so far seem to have him high on the Orange and Blue.
“It’s kind of the energy around the program,” he offered to 247Sports’ Rusty Mansell. “I would say a really good relationship with Coach O’Hara and Coach Napier. The energy around the program and it’s only about 2.5 hours away from home, which is nice.”
Other schools in the hunt for the coveted play-caller include the Michigan State Spartans, Tennessee Volunteers, Auburn Tigers and Arkansas Razorbacks, among many others; he has received a total of 22 offers already.
Merklinger is ranked No. 104 overall and No. 9 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 consensus has him at Nos. 106 and 9, respectively. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has the Gators out in front of his recruitment with a 31.4% chance of landing him, while the Spartans are close behind at 27.4% and the Vols in third at 17.8%.
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