Gators lose commitment from top-30 basketball recruit

Todd Golden and the Florida Gators men’s basketball team just lost a major piece of the 2024 recruiting class, but is there any hope to bring him back in the fold?

It took less than three weeks for four-star center [autotag]John Bol[/autotag] to go from “10000% committed” to back on the open market. The now-former Florida commit backed off his verbal pledge to the Gators on Friday, according to a social media post from Chris Wash of Level 13 Sports Market and Management.

“My client 2024 John Bol (@JohnBol_7) 7’2 C Ranked #23 in the country has decommitted from Florida and will re-open his recruitment,” Wash tweeted with two exclamation marks.

The loss leaves Florida with just one player committed in the 2024 class, Orlando Christian Prep shooting guard Isaiah Brown, and moves the Gators down to No. 31 overall on the On3 team rankings.

An agent breaking the news has many believing that Florida lost Bol due to NIL opportunities elsewhere that he may not have considered. Bol was looking at joining the Overtime Elite League before his commitment, and the OEL has produced two top-five since then.

Wherever Bol ends up, he has the potential to be among the top big men in the country. At 7-foot-1-inch, he has the height to dominate the college game, and many scouts think he’s showing NBA potential.

[lawrence-auto-related count=5 category=1738]

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