After earning nine commitments from the class of 2024 players in June, Florida is back at it in July with the commitment of four-star offensive tackle [autotag]Fletcher Westphal[/autotag].
The 6-foot-7.5-inch, 335-pound lineman out of Tuscarora High in Leesburg, Virginia picked the Gators over Arkansas, Auburn, Clemson and Georgia on Monday, posting the announcement to his social media pages following a live ceremony that was broadcasted on Instagram.
Florida worked hard to secure this commitment, according to Chad Simmons of On3, who spoke with Westphal ahead of the announcement. The Gators had missed out on a couple of four-star targets at offensive tackle and were running out of time to secure a blue-chip recruit at the position during the cycle.
“For a long time, Arkansas was the leader and I hadn’t taken too many visits to Florida, but as I got down there more, I started feeling differently about them,” Westphal said to Simmons. “I took my official visit to Florida, and I really enjoyed being around the players, I enjoyed being around the coaches and I loved the strength and conditioning staff. Everyone there was great to be around.”
110% committed! 🐊🐊🧡💙 pic.twitter.com/XDz4FZYcLm
— Fletcher Westphal (@FletcherWestph1) July 10, 2023
Westphal is a four-star recruit everywhere but Rivals.com. Still, the On3 industry ranking, which uses a weighted average of all four major recruiting services, has him at No. 252 overall and No. 19 among offensive tackles in the class of 2024. He’s also the fifth-best player out of Virginia this year.
Already ranked No. 3 on the 247Sports and On3 team recruiting rankings, adding Westphal won’t move Florida up any spots, but it does help strengthen the now 18-player class.
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