Florida football makes final four for coveted 2025 linebacker

The Gators made the cut for this big-time linebacker out of Georgia.

Florida football continues to churn away at the recruiting grindstone as the focus turns from the 2023 cycle to 2024 and beyond. The latest news from the prep prospect ranks comes from the class of 2025, in which the Gators are among the top four schools in contention for the young student-athlete’s services.

Linebacker [autotag]Mantrez Walker[/autotag] out of Buford (Georgia) recently released his top teams, telling On3’s Chad Simmons, “All have recruited me hard since my sophomore year started.” Those programs are Florida, the Michigan Wolverines, Penn State Nittany Lions and LSU Tigers. He has visited all of them except for LSU so far.

The 5-foot-11-inch, 215-pound defender visited Gainesville last summer, which went quite well in his own words.

“I was at Florida back in the summer and I had a great time. I love the vision coach Napier has for the program. Coach Napier is the coach that can get Florida back to the top.”

Beyond the Gators’ head coach, inside linebackers coach [autotag]Jay Bateman[/autotag] and defensive analyst [autotag]Jamar Chaney[/autotag] have also led the way in the high school sophomore’s recruitment.

Walker has yet to receive any ratings or rankings from 247Sports, On3 or Rivals. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine currently has the South Carolina Gamecocks out front for his talents with a 22.7% chance of landing him, followed by the Arkansas Razorbacks, Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets and Virginia Tech Hokies at 19.8%, 8.9% and 7.4% respectively. Rivals’ FutureCast commitment forecast gives Michigan a 100% chance of landing him.

[mm-video type=video id=01graa1dq79khqaxwazw playlist_id=01eqbz250mdknqvm5z player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01graa1dq79khqaxwazw/01graa1dq79khqaxwazw-c6f127b21f447c5b32388ac987456672.jpg]

[lawrence-related id=100805,100794,100779,100765,100762]

[listicle id=100739]

[listicle id=100205]

[listicle id=100155]

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.