Tag: 2023 football recruiting

5-star QB set to visit Florida for the first time this weekend

Five-star quarterback Dante Moore is set to visit Florida for the first time this weekend.

Florida has been recruiting a flurry of top quarterbacks during the 2023 recruiting cycle, including the likes of Arch Manning, Christopher Vizzina, Dylan Lonergan and Marcus Stokes. Another name the Gators have made headway for is five-star quarterback Dante Moore.

247Sports reported Wednesday that the Detroit native plans to visit the Swamp this weekend. Coach Billy Napier and off-the-field analyst Ryan O’Hara have made up a lot of ground for Moore since offering him on March 9. Moore is ranked the sixth overall prospect and the third-best at his position, according to the 247Sports composite.

In his junior season, 247Sports says Moore completed 73% of his passes for 3,047 yards and 40 touchdowns while leading his team to a 13-1 record and a Michigan state championship.

Since the calendar flipped to 2022, he has visited Miami, Michigan State, Michigan and LSU so far.

247Sports also reports that despite a lack of a set decision date that he would like to make one during the spring or summer following some more visits.

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4-star Michigan commit says Gators are still in the picture following visit

A top-100 linebacker who is committed to Michigan was in Gainesville Tuesday and he says the Gators are still in play.

Four-star linebacker Raylen Wilson may be committed to the University of Michigan, but that isn’t stopping Billy Napier and the Florida Gators from trying to keep the Tallahassee recruit to stay in-state.

Wilson was one of the many recruits that visited the Swamp on Tuesday, March 15, and he came away impressed with the new staff and academic facilities, according to 247Sports. Inside linebackers coach Jay Bateman, defensive analyst Jamar Chaney and Napier were the main coaches involved in Wilson’s visit, but he spent time with most of the staff while on campus.

“When they were introducing themselves, it made me feel like they were genuine,” Wilson said. “(Their message) was they really don’t want me to go all the way to Michigan to play ball.”

After the Wolverines lost defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald to the Baltimore Ravens, Wilson decided to take a look at his other options. He remains firm in his commitment to Michigan right now but says that Florida and Georgia are best positioned to land him if something changes.

“They are in the picture as of now,” he said. “If I was to de-commit from Michigan, or if anything happened with Michigan, they would definitely be in the race.”

A June visit to Ann Arbor should provide some clarity on Wilson’s position with UM. He’s since talked to the Wolverines’ new defensive coordinator, Jesse Minter, and been reassured that the scheme won’t be changing enough to affect his role on the team.

At Florida, Wilson knows that he would have a good chance to play early as Florida lacks a dominant third-down linebacker with enough versatility to be thrown anywhere on the field. He got a chance to see where he’d fit in with the defense as he sat in on a linebackers meeting before practice.

Napier has focused on in-state recruits early in the cycle. Wilson is one of the best in Florida. He’s ranked No. 13 in the state on the 247Sports composite and No. 68 overall. Stealing a top 100 recruit from a program that just made the College Football Playoff would be a very good look for the new staff.

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Florida brings in impressive amount of recruits for first day of spring practice

Florida kicked off spring practice on Tuesday and a host of impressive recruits were in attendance.

Everyone is excited to see what Florida is like under new head coach Billy Napier. Fans and media members can only see snippets of what is going on in practices until the Orange and Blue game on April 16, but recruits can see whole practices when they visit the Swamp. On the first day of spring practice, Florida hosted over 15 prospects as it kicked things off on Tuesday.

Some of the elite names to stop by includes four-star linebacker Troy Bowles, four-star wide receiver Bryson Rodgers, four-star cornerback Dijon Johnson, four-star pass-catcher Eugene Wilson III, four-star offensive tackle Lucas Simmons and four-star linebacker and Michigan commit Raylen Wilson.

Eugene and Rodgers sit pretty close to the top of Florida’s wide receiver board. This will be Eugene’s second visit to the Gators this month, naming the Orange and Blue his leader after his first visit. For Rodgers, this is his first visit under the new staff.

For Johnson and Simmons, it’s their first visit to see Florida under Napier too. Johnson’s name has soared up the Gators defensive blackboard after a strong performance at the Under Armour event in Miami last month. Also, Napier, Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton have impressed Simmons so far and finally got him on campus.

Look for more prospects to visit throughout this week and then a flurry of them over the weekend.

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This IMG Academy 5-star OL has Florida in his top 13

Florida makes the first cut for IMG Academy five-star OL Francis Mauigoa.

The Florida Gators expected to make five-star offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa’s top 10 after the IMG Academy prospect visited on March 5. He cut down his list of nearly 30 offers to just 13 programs on Monday and the Gators have some fierce competition for the in-state talent.

Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Penn State, Texas, USC and Hawaii are the other schools in play. Billy Napier is staying in close contact with Mauigoa, according to 247Sports. The head coach talks to him twice a week as he attempts to establish a true IMG to Florida pipeline.

Although it’s still early in the recruiting process, Florida is sitting in a very good spot with Mauigoa, especially after his visit introduced him to the new Florida culture.

“It’s the atmosphere,” Mauigoa said of including the Gators in his list. “The people around you, that’s what matters in the recruiting process and (Florida) has a lot of great people and a lot of great coaches as well.”

Napier and his staff like Mauigoa as an interior offensive lineman, and the 6-foot-6-inch, 325-pounder is interested in Florida’s dual offensive line coach approach.

“I don’t know if other colleges have that,” Mauigoa said. “I asked a question about that, how do they communicate, how do they know what the other is thinking about and do they teach the same techniques and stuff. They said it’s all about communication, and after every practice they will sit down and talk to each other, and I think that’s very unique.”

Mauigoa will take official visits over the summer and fall. Right now, he says that Florida, Miami and USC are the most persistent schools after him. The next few months will be spent narrowing down his list as delves into the specifics of each program. For Florida, he wants to look into the academic side of things.

The 247Sports composite ranks Mauigoa as the No. 8 overall recruit in the class of 2023 and the second-best offensive tackle in the class.

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This former Georgia CB commit visiting Florida on Friday

Can Florida reel in former Georgia commit Kayin Lee?

After a wild coaching carousel in college football this offseason, many recruits elected to reopen their recruitments after a flurry of changes. Four-star cornerback Kayin Lee is one of those prospects who de-committed from a school — in his case, the Georgia Bulldogs — announcing his decision on Feb. 22.

After he backed off his pledge, a plethora of schools have hit him up, including Florida. He told 247Sports that he’ll be visiting the Gators and coach Billy Napier this Friday.

Lee is considered the 18th best defensive back at his position and ranked the 155th overall player in the country, according to the 247Sports composite rankings. He hails from Ellenwood, Georgia, and played for Cedar Grove where he collected seven interceptions with two of them coming in the state championship game.

He has earned 29 offers so far, including ones from Georgia, Auburn, Arkansas, Florida State, LSU, Miami, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

Besides his visit to the Gators, he wants to see Ole Miss, Razorbacks, Buckeyes, Hurricanes, Oregon and Clemson over the course of spring and summer.

Lee also said Ohio State has recruited him the hardest but doesn’t plan to make another decision until the early signing period in December.

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This 4-star DL earns Florida offers, alters visit date

Four-star defensive lineman Hunter Osborne plans to visit Florida after netting an offer.

The SEC is a line-of-scrimmage league, and if Florida wants to get back to competing for championships, it needs to find more dominant offensive and defensive linemen. The Gators offered another blue-chip defensive lineman in Hunter Osborne out of Hewitt-Trussville, Alabama, on Monday in an attempt to bolster their front four. After netting the offer, he spoke to Gators Online and told them he plans to visit Florida on March 24 instead of March 26.

He is ranked as the 13th best defensive lineman and the 87th player overall, according to the On3 Consensus rankings.

During his junior season, he racked up 60 tackles (35 solo), 5.5 sacks and nine pass deflections for his high school team. He also has earned an invite to the 2023 Under Armour All-American Game.

Osborne holds currently 50 scholarship offers to his name that includes schools like LSU, Alabama, Clemson, Texas A&M, Notre Dame, Georgia, USC and Michigan, according to 247Sports.

Recently, he has made trips to Clemson in March as well as to LSU and Alabama back in January.

It is early in his recruitment, but On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine currently has Alabama trending at 20.8%.

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5-star running back sets Florida visit for next weekend

Five-star Richard Young will visit Florida next weekend.

Five-star running back Richard Young mentioned his desire to visit Florida in February but didn’t have a date set yet. On Saturday, he tweeted that he’ll visit the Swamp on March 18 for an unofficial visit.

The 247Sports composite currently ranks him as the 18th overall prospect and the best player at his position. Hailing from Lehigh Acres, Florida, Young tallied 1,755 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns on 196 attempts while averaging nine yards a carry during his junior season, according to 247Sports.

His upcoming visit will be his first time seeing Florida under new coach Billy Napier. He told Swamp247 that off-the-field analyst Jamar Chaney and running backs coach Jabbar Juluke have led the charge for the Gators. Young added that he has built a strong relationship with them but looks forward to meeting them in person.

Napier visited his high school in January, but due to NCAA rules, he couldn’t speak directly with Young during his stop. But he did give his high school coach this message.

“When Coach Napier came to my school,” he said. “He told my coach to tell me to just give them a chance to recruit me. That has made it seem different with how they want to make sure that guys know they are wanted.”

So far, Young has made visits to Oklahoma and plans to visit Oregon in April.

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Take a look at Florida’s 2023 quarterback recruiting board

Here are the six prep quarterbacks the Gators are trying to snag so far in the 2023 recruiting class.

Florida football’s 2023 recruiting class continues to take shape under the direction of new head coach Billy Napier and his army of staffers, highlighted by the three scholarships extended to prep quarterbacks over the past week. As things currently stand, there are six signal callers on the Gators’ radar, with five of them currently holding offers from the Orange and Blue.

While the early signing period is still nine months away, it is prudent to take an early look at how the quarterback situation is shaking out. Of course, there is the biggest name in the class, Arch Manning, who is coveted by every school out there including Florida, but there are plenty of other options after him.

Below, we have a list of all six quarterback recruits that the Gators have their eyes on, along with information relevant to their recruitment. All data, including star ratings, are according to On3.

Top 100 edge rusher is getting familiar with the Florida football

Florida’s recruiting staff is getting in the mix for in-state four-star edge rusher Damon Wilson.

The list of 2023 edge rushers being targeted by Florida continues to grow as Venice, Florida, four-star Damon Wilson becomes the latest in-state recruit to develop a relationship with Orange and Blue.

Wilson has heard from the Gators more often in recent weeks, according to a report from 247Sports’ Blake Alderman. Defensive coordinator Patrick Toney has checked in a handful of times, but outside linebackers coach Mike Peterson and defensive analyst Jamar Chaney have been his main contacts at Florida.

Although he’s never visited UF, Wilson is well aware of what the expectations are in Gainesville being an in-state recruit.

“They are a pretty good program,” he said. “They were playing for national championships a couple of years back. They have always been a pretty good team. They had that end, Zachary Carter, who was in the combine this year. They are just a good program.”

Florida and Miami are the first two stops Wilson is considering taking. Many of his offers are from out west or up north, so he wants to see what the local programs have to offer before loading up his schedule.

Alabama, Clemson, Michigan State, Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, South Carolina, Tennessee and USC are just some of the schools he plans on taking a look at, so Billy Napier has his work cut out for him. Fortunately, Wilson says he’s nowhere near naming any leaders and that his recruitment is really just getting started. He plans to take official visits in the fall which typically means a winter decision.

Wilson is the No. 79 overall recruit in the class of 2023 on the 247Sports composite. He’s also ranked No. 7 among edge rushers in his class.

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This 4-star OT wastes no time scheduling visit after receiving Florida offer

Four-star offensive tackle Monroe Freeling quickly scheduled a visit to Florida after receiving an offer.

Florida and offensive line coaches Rob Sale and Darnell Stapleton have extended several scholarships offers this past week, They understand that the talent level among the offensive line needs to be raised significantly if the Gators want to compete for a national championship again. One offensive tackle to receive an offer recently is four-star Monroe Freeling out of South Carolina. He wasted very little time scheduling a visit to the Swamp after earning the green light, according to 247Sports.

Sale has run point for Freeling so far from coach Billy Napier‘s staff. Freeling said he likes the former New York Giants assistant coach even though their relationship is in the infant stages.

With this upcoming visit, Freeling looks forward to learning more about the Orange and Blue.

“I do know they just got a new head coach and they are really trying to rebuild to get back to where they were years back,” he said. “I really don’t know much about them other than that, but Coach Sale has told me some things. I like how they are a little close to home, even though travel has never been a big deal to me. It’s always an addition to be able to be close. Florida has been known to develop offensive linemen, so that is a plus. Coach Sale was telling me they have a new engineering facility, which is good because I want to major in math and science.”

Florida may have just offered Freeling but that hasn’t stopped him from including the Gators among teams he feels that are recruiting him the best. Clemson, Miami, Notre Dame and Ohio State are some other schools he mentioned. Finally, he said he doesn’t think a decision will be made this spring and that he wants to visit some more schools.

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