The coming weekend is another big one for the Florida football program as four-star safety Lagonza Hayward out of Lyons (Georgia) Toombs County in the 2025 cycle gets set to make his verbal commitment. The 6-foot-1-inch, 200-pound defensive back made an official visit with the Gators in mid-June and is zeroing in on his final decision.
“On my birthday, July 27, between Florida and South Carolina,” Hayward revealed as his decision date after his Florida OV.
However, he has changed things a bit since that announcement.
“The offers came in, I had a lot of choices and I had to make a tough decision. It has come down to Florida, Georgia and Tennessee,” Hayward told Gators Online. “My decision to pick one of those will be about relationships and loyalty. Those things are very important to me.”
As for why those programs stand out from the rest, it comes down to development and ambiance.
“I can go there and get developed, play early, and it’s a great atmosphere,” he said previously.” Just being in an atmosphere, you just got to love being there, loving the organization and the program.”
Recruiting Summary
Lagonza is ranked No. 95 overall and No. 11 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 100 and 9, respectively.
Tennessee holds one crystal ball prediction from 247Sports and leads On3’s recruiting prediction machine with a 71.7% chance of signing him; Georgia (25.5%) and Florida (1.1%) follow distantly behind.
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