One of the primary focuses of Florida football’s recruiting efforts since head coach Billy Napier took over the program has been taking advantage of the vast amount of talent that resides within the boundaries of the state — plus a little bit of stretching room into Georgia and Alabama as well. With that in mind, the Gators are set to host one particular blue-chip talent from nearby the in next few days, according to Gators Online’s Corey Bender.
Four-star wide receiver [autotag]Jerrae Hawkins[/autotag], who originally hails from Wheeling, West Virginia, transferred in December to play football and run track for IMG Academy in Sarasota, Florida, and is among many targets for Napier and Co. at the prolific sports-based high school. The 5-foot-9-inch, 160-pound pass-catcher appears to be pretty amped for his first visit to the Swamp — as is Napier.
“I just want to see how they operate, how they use their slot guys and guys that play like how I play,” Hawkins recently said of the Gators. “(Coach Napier) wants to see me come out there on a visit. He is looking forward to seeing me.”
The high school junior included the Gators in his top-six preferred schools on March 13, which also includes the West Virginia Mountaineers, Louisville Cardinals, Miami Hurricanes, Wisconsin Badgers and Penn State Nittany Lions.
Hawkins is ranked No. 179 overall and No. 27 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 158 and 28, respectively. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine has Penn State in the lead for his commitment with a 44.2% chance of landing him, while West Virginia, the Pittsburgh Panthers and Virginia Tech Hokies follow behind at 13.7%, 11.8% and 9.8%, respectively.
[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1368]
[mm-video type=video id=01gxb4dv2ecnv7fn52gb playlist_id=01eqbz250mdknqvm5z player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01gxb4dv2ecnv7fn52gb/01gxb4dv2ecnv7fn52gb-b15d3c6ba4832f51fd07f639374ba454.jpg]
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.