Gators coach Billy Napier had another big recruiting win on Saturday, as Jennings, Louisiana, running back Trevor Etienne announced his commitment to UF at the All-American Bowl over Clemson and LSU. The younger brother of former Clemson star Travis Etienne, the younger Etienne is a four-star recruit and the No. 183 player on the 247Sports Composite.
With his commitment, Florida saw its spot in the 247Sports recruiting rankings rise considerably. It entered the day at No. 53 but rose to No. 41 following Etienne’s announcement.
Etienne becomes the highest-ranked offensive commit in the class, and getting a Clemson legacy from Louisiana to choose the Gators over either of the Tigers squads targeting him is an impressive accomplishment for Napier.
However, he still has a lot of work to do with this class. It remains the worst class in the SEC and currently only has 11 members. Nine of those have already signed — and one has already enrolled in five-star safety Kamari Wilson — while Etienne and three-star Eastside (Covington, Georgia) offensive lineman Jalen Farmer are the only unsigned players.
This class needs to grow and it has a lot of room to, so Florida should continue to move up before and after national signing day on Feb. 2. However, it’s unclear how many more players Napier wishes to add with the number of quality options in the transfer portal (including several Louisiana starters who UF is likely well-positioned for).
This is a recruiting class that ranked outside the top 75 before early signing day in December, so Napier is certainly making progress. But he still needs to do a lot more if it’s going to earn even a respectable finish in the rankings.
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