Florida football still ‘No. 1’ for 2025 blue-chip DB after junior day visit

This Sunshine State product remains firm in his desire to play for the Gators.

The Florida football program was busy this past weekend hosting prep prospects after the opening of the recruiting contact period. Billy Napier and Co. were busy catching up with some of their top targets with many hailing from the 2025 cycle during the first junior day of the calendar year.

One of those student-athletes was four-star defensive back [autotag]Chris McCorkle[/autotag] III out of Sarasota (Florida) Cardinal Mooney, who has been in the team’s sights for quite some time. The 6-foot-1, 172-pound defender made visits to Gainesville for game days last fall and returned last weekend to get another gander at what the Gators have to offer.

“It went great,” McCorkle told Swamp247. “I had a good time here.”

The high school junior appears to be jibing well with new defensive backs coach Will Harris, who was brought in to replace Corey Raymond — the person who originally offered McCorkle.

“(Harris is) a good person, I just met him not too long ago. I was in the defensive backs room with him and he was teaching us stuff. That’s great. I’m just now getting to meet him, but it was all good,” he offered.

“He’s energetic, and he means what he means,” McCorkle continued. “He means business. He’s going to get you where you need to be.”

As far as where the Orange and Blue stand among his preferred destinations, McCorkle offered a simple answer.

“They’re still where they were before: No. 1.”

McCorkle is rated at four stars and ranked No. 360 overall and No. 37 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite, while the On3 industry ranking rates him at three stars and ranked at Nos. 466 and 51, respectively.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine gives the Gators a 79.8% chance of landing him, followed by the UCF Knights (1.7%), Florida Atlantic Owls (1.5%) and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (1.2%).

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