Gators DB commit flips back to Syracuse following visit

Florida managed to flip four-star safety Demetres Samuel Jr. over the summer, but a slow start to the season has him back with Syracuse.

They say that no commitment in modern college football recruiting is a lock until the player is on campus and enrolled in classes. Look no further than four-star safety [autotag]Demetres Samuel Jr[/autotag]. for proof.

On Sunday, the former Syracuse commit who flipped to Florida and reclassified as a 2025 recruit announced at the end of July has now decommitted from the Gators and flipped back to the Orange.

The move comes after a weekend in New York and following a 2-2 start for Florida. Samuel hinted at his recruitment being open earlier in the month, adding that he planned to take official visits to several schools, including Alabama, Florida, Syracuse and UCF.

Florida’s 2025 recruiting class

The loss of Samuel brings Florida down to 13 verbal commitments from the class of 2025. While the Gators still have four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. in the fold, he’s the only defensive back in the class for now.

Florida has offered 27 different safeties from the class of 2025, according to Swmap247, but all of them are committed elsewhere already. There is a chance Florida flips one of the in-state targets, but this will be a thin secondary class for the Gators.

Recruiting Summary

Samuel is a consensus four-star recruit who is ranked as high as No. 123 overall in the class of 2025 by On3.

The 247Sports composite puts him at No. 242 nationally and No. 21 at his position, while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 207 and 18, respectively.

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