The 2023 consensus football team recruiting rankings from On3 received an update on Friday and the Gators benefitted in a way that should make most of the fans happy.
Florida moved up one spot to No. 9 on the rankings, but that’s a big spot considering it moves the team ahead of in-state rival Miami. At the beginning of the summer, the national (and statewide) narrative was that Miami’s new head coach, Mario Cristobal, was stuffing “Sun Belt Billy Napier” in a locker. Four-star quarterback [autotag]Jaden Rashada[/autotag] pushed back his commitment in June and picked UM over UF, and then five-star offensive lineman [autotag]Francis Mauigoa[/autotag] also picked Miami and Florida. Things looked bad, but Napier had a plan.
He picked up commitments from 13 four-star recruits throughout July and August and positioned the Gators inside the top 10 and a spot behind the Hurricanes. But that doesn’t exactly explain how Florida managed to leapfrog Miami in the rankings without picking up another commitment.
The explanation involves a lot of numbers, but it’s actually quite simple. Up until this update, the On3 consensus team rankings used an average of 16 commits to determine each team’s rankings score. That number has now increased to 17 and Florida has more quality down its list of commits than Miami does.
While the Hurricanes do have a five-star, which boosts their score immensely, that is counterbalanced by the eight three-stars that make up the back half of their recruiting class. In comparison, the Gators have 16 four-stars and four three-stars, putting them 0.004 points ahead in the team rankings.
The Florida-Miami banter on social media has been fun this summer, and it’s incredible how close the two are in the rankings at this point in the cycle. This is a race we’ll be sure to check in on frequently as each update comes in.
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