Florida successfully flipped Heritage (Palm Bay) safety [autotag]Demetres Samuel Jr[/autotag]. from Syracuse over the summer, but a reclassification from the 2026 grad class to 2025 means he only has so much time left to get his official visit in.
Blake Alderman of 247Sports spoke with Samuel after Florida’s recent win over Mississippi State and reported that UF is likely to host him on an official visit before national signing day.
“It’s going to have to be in-season, but probably will do those sometime around November since signing day is closer to the start of December now,” Samuel said. “Sometime when my season is done. I am going to definitely do one with Florida. Then some others, definitely UCF, definitely Syracuse and I may do one to Alabama.”
It’s not ideal for Samuel to take multiple trips in the months before the early signing period, but it sounds like Florida has a good chance to keep him in the fold. Besides the verbal commitment, Samuel sees an opportunity to play early in Gainesville.
“They are running a little shallow on the depth chart with some guys hurt, but that’s why they went out and wanted to get me,” he said. “I see they run a lot of man, and like to play a lot of press man.”
Samuel also backed Florida head coach Billy Napier, adding that he’s blocking out the social media noise. He’s still high on Florida and says that he would have decommitted already if he had any doubts about the program.
Recruiting Summary
Samuel is a consensus four-star recruit ranked the highest by On3 at No. 123 overall on the site’s standalone rankings. The 247Sports composite has him at No. 242 nationally and No. 21 among safeties in the class of 2025, while the On3 industry ranking is slightly more bullish at Nos. 207 and 18, respectively.
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