Now that the calendar has turned over after a busy month of June for Florida football’s recruiting staff the next big date on the horizon is the Gators’ Friday Night Lights weekend, which will be held on the final weekend of July. Among the many planning on attending the festivities are a pair of five-star defensive linemen in the 2023 class who could make huge waves in Gainesville.
[autotag]James Smith[/autotag] and [autotag]Jaquavious Russaw[/autotag], both teammates at Montgomery (Alabama) Carver, are slated to join the crowd that weekend according to Swamp247. It will be the first visit, as well as one of the unofficial variety, for the two standouts to the Swamp but that has not prevented the Orange and Blue from climbing the leaderboards for the two blue-chip prospects.
The pair have already unofficially ventured to the campuses of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Auburn Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies and Miami Hurricanes during the spring and early summer, while spending their lone official visit to Athens to check out the Georgia Bulldogs on June 17.
Smith, a 6-foot-4-inch, 310-pound who is among the very best at his position, currently ranks No. 13 overall and No. 2 at defensive lineman nationally according to the 247Sports composite, while the On3 consensus has him at Nos. 6 and 1, respectively. The Tide currently holds a narrow lead over UGA on On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine at 47.2% and 40.3%, respectively.
Russaw, a 6-foot-2-inch, 230-pound EDGE rusher, is currently ranked No. 27 overall and No. 4 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite, while the On3 consensus has him at Nos. 23 and 3, respectively. Similar to Smith, both the ‘Dawgs and ‘Bama are in the hunt for the young man’s talents, but the former holds the lead in this chase with a 49.8% chance of signing him while the latter sits a bit back at 32.9%.
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