Grayson (Loganville, Georgia) defensive lineman [autotag]Joseph Mbatchou[/autotag] has flipped back to the Florida Gators.
Mbatchou initially committed to the Gators in July, but he backed off that pledge in October. A month later, he picked the Texas Longhorns as his new team, but now Mbatchou is returning to his original pick of Florida.
The four-star defensive lineman was in Gainesville two weeks ago for Florida’s upset win over LSU. Since then, the Gators have upset Ole Miss and taken care of business against a sloppy Florida State team. All three of those games featured dominant performances from Florida’s defensive front, including an eight-sack evening on Saturday.
“It went really good. The defense, they were killing LSU,” Mbatchou said to Gators Online after his official visit. “I got to talk to the coaches and got to see what I saw the first time when I committed. I kind of saw the same thing, so it was a really good visit. It looked even during the first, second and third, and then once the fourth quarter rolled around, LSU couldn’t handle them anymore. They couldn’t stop them.”
Mbatchou also told Gators Online that questions surrounding Billy Napier’s future as the head coach in Gainesville led to his commitment. Florida’s strong finish and athletic director Scott Stricklin’s public backing of Napier has changed things.
Recruiting Summary
A consensus four-star recruit, 247Sports is the highest on Mbatchou, ranking him No. 229 overall in the class of 2025. The 247Sports composite has him a bit lower at No. 291 nationally and No. 31 among defensive linemen, while the On3 industry ranking puts him at Nos. 258 and 22, respectively.
Mbatchou is new to football. He’s a Cameroon native who also plays basketball and started putting the pads on this season. At 6-foot-4.5-inches and 280 pounds, there’s a ton of optimism and upside following a 25-tackle, three-sack senior year. He ended the season with 11 quarterback hurries and 13 tackles for loss over 12 games.
Bringing Mbatchou back into the fold moves Florida up to No. 13 in the 247Sports team recruiting rankings and 14th in the On3 industry ranking team rankings.
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