Tag: 2024 football recruiting

Top-ranked 2024 LB plans Florida visit, knows what to expect with Napier

Florida will be hosting one of the top names in the class of 2024 over the weekend, and the five-star linebacker says he knows what to expect from Billy Napier.

The recruiting staff at Florida is busy putting together the class of 2023 right now, but they are still making time for the rising juniors that are starting their recruiting journey. One of those underclassmen receiving attention from [autotag]Billy Napier[/autotag] and Co. is five-star Jefferson (Georgia) linebacker [autotag]Sammy Brown[/autotag] who is set to visit Florida on Saturday, according to 247Sports.

He’s the top-ranked linebacker in the class of 2024, according to the 247Sports composite, and is also ranked No. 9 overall by the service. The On3 Consensus gives Brown a four-star designation but still has him ranked No. 1 at his position and No. 8 overall. It might be Brown’s first trip to the Swamp, but he has an idea of what to expect from Napier once he gets into town.

“My parents both went to Furman, and Coach Napier did too,” Brown said to 247Sports. “So my dad really likes what Coach Napier is doing and how he’s instituting that little Furman feel that he got from there. I really like what Coach Napier is doing. Furman has a cool culture and they do things right.”

Napier’s brother is also a head coach at nearby LeGrange High school and Brown has had a chance to talk with him at the state wrestling tournament about both sports. Inside linebackers coach Jay Bateman is Brown’s current go-to contact at UF.

Although facilities will play a part in Brown’s decision, he says that the people he works with are more important. Surrounding himself with coaches that can get him to the NFL is of the utmost importance and Florida fits the bill. Getting Brown on campus should only reaffirm that in his mind.

The usual contenders are in the hunt for Brown, but it’s still very early for him to narrow things down. Georgia, being the home state program, has hosted him on campus for a couple of unofficial visits, and Alabama has also had him in town. A top five should come out around this time (May-June) in 2023.

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Top 2024 linebacker recruit excited about Florida’s offer

The Gators are getting ahead of the recruiting game by offering a scholarship to the top 2024 linebacker recruit.

It is never too early to get ahead in the college football recruiting game and the Florida Gators got a head start on filing in its 2024 class on Thursday when it offered 5-star linebacker Sammy Brown out of Jefferson (Georgia) a scholarship, according to GatorsOnline. The 6-foot-2-inch, 215-pound high school sophomore is the top-ranked player at his position and the No. 8 athlete overall.

UF is not the only team in the fray so far, as Brown has already paid visits to big-name programs like the Alabama Crimson Tide, Georgia Bulldogs, Ohio State Buckeyes and Clemson Tigers. Despite the lack of face-to-face contact with Florida, the prep prospect described his flourishing relationship with the Gators’ coaching staff and how the offer came about.

“I have been talking with coach (Jamar) Chaney a good bit lately, keeping him updated on track and all that other stuff. They actually offered me through my dad over the phone. I was taking a final when it happened.”

His father Mike Brown played for the Furman Paladins from 1992 to 1996 and was known for his tough style of play, recording 92 total tackles and eight sacks over his career as an outside linebacker/defensive end. Now the offensive line coach at his son’s high school, he has played a large role in the younger Brown’s recruitment.

“They have kind of been talking through my dad because he’s one of my coaches. It wasn’t totally out of the blue.”

The good news for Gators fans:

“I like what Florida is doing and really look forward to getting down for a visit… I really like the culture that coach Napier brings to their program. Coach Napier actually graduated from the same school as my parents, so having that familiarity is pretty big.

Brown is currently assigned a five-star rating by the 247Sports Composite while no breakdown rankings are available — though 247Sports has him as a four-star recruit who is the No. 6 player overall and No. 1 at his position nationally — while the On3 Consensus at Nos. 8 and 1, respectively. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine gives the Gators less than 1% chance of signing him, with the Bulldogs out in front with a 30.1% chance of signing him.

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Florida football set to host this 2024 five-star QB

Coach Napier is getting an early jump on one of the top quarterbacks in the class of 2024.

Billy Napier and his recruiting staff will get their first chance to meet with California five-star quarterback [autotag]Julian Sayin[/autotag] on April 20, according to a report from 247Sports.

Despite only being a sophomore, the blue-chip signal-caller has plenty of visits lined up for the spring. He’ll be in Texas the day before he tours UF and will head to Penn State after leaving the Swamp. Florida’s interest in the Carlsbad High product began under [autotag]Dan Mullen[/autotag]’s staff, but Napier’s crew has kept in contact with him since taking over.

Sayin’s main connection at Florida has been offensive analyst [autotag]Ryan O’Hara[/autotag] but he hasn’t spoken with anyone on the new staff just yet. Once those introductions are made, it shouldn’t take long for UF to reoffer him.

Georgia, Miami, Michigan, Notre Dame, Oregon, Texas A&M and USC are a few of the other schools currently pursuing Sayin, and the list should only grow over the next two years. Florida recently lost out on 2023 quarterbacks [autotag]Chris Vizzina[/autotag] and [autotag]Marcus Stokes[/autotag], leaving the team in a tough spot at the position, so it’s good to see Napier jump on the next class early.

The 247Sports composite ranks Sayin No. 7 overall in the class of 2024 and No. 2 among quarterbacks.

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Two 4-star recruits plus a 2024 prospect to visit Florida on Tuesday

Napier and Co. are getting a head start on the new open season for recruiting.

After nearly a month-long dead period in February, recruits are able to head out again to see different colleges like Florida and others across the country. Most will opt to wait for this weekend to visit the Swamp, but not 4-stars Eugene Wilson III and Gavin Hill and 2024 defensive lineman Kendall Jackson. They made the trek to Gainesville on Tuesday to visit coach Billy Napier and Co.

Wilson is the only prospect who currently holds a scholarship offer from the Gators. Napier and wide receiver coach Keary Colbert extended an offer to the Tampa-based recruit and called Florida his “dream school” after a strong showing at Under Armour Miami camp last month.

So far, Colbert and area recruiter and defensive line coach Sean Spencer have led the charge for Wilson.

“I think they are great guys, and it’s easy to converse with them from the times I have talked to them,” he told Swamp247. “We laugh and stuff, and it never seems like there is any tension in the conversation at all. You can tell when they talk ball, they know what they are talking about. It’s been really good. I can just tell they are easy to build a relationship with.”

He added that coach Colbert is the one he has spoken to the most. Wilson said he’s laid back and reminds him of his receiving coach at his high school.

Hill and Jackson are the other two prospects coming to see the Swamp and are a bit more local than Wilson. They play football up the road at Buchholz in north Gainesville.

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Top 2024 running back decommits from Gators

Gibson is the No. 1 running back in 2024, per 247Sports.

While it’s always nice to pick up a pledge from a recruit early in their high school career, as it allows you to start planning out roster decisions years in advance, there are certainly downsides.

Those players frequently change their minds as their recruiting process picks up and they land more offers, and that’s the exact situation Florida finds itself in with 2024 running back Jerrick Gibson. The four-star prospect (and No. 1 running back in his class, per 247Sports) committed to the Gators way back in July, but on Tuesday, the Jonesboro (Georgia) Mundy Hill product made the decision to reopen his recruitment.

As Gibson mentions, Florida was the first FBS school to offer him back in June under the previous staff, and he made his commitment just over a month later. Since then, he’s picked up offers from schools like Michigan State, Arkansas and South Carolina, and he’s unofficially visited in-state Georgia.

The Gators may still be a factor in his recruitment down the line, but for now, they need to start looking elsewhere for running backs in 2024. Luckily, they have nearly two years to figure that situation out.

With Gibson’s departure from the class, Florida is left with no players currently committed in its 2024 class and just one in 2023. Coach Billy Napier certainly has some work to do, but he also enters his next two recruiting cycles with an almost entirely blank canvas.

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Billy Napier hoping to have continued success at IMG Academy

Billy Napier already broke the IMG Academy course at Florida, and he’s hoping to land more recruits from the in-state program in the years to come.

Billy Napier’s first big moment as Florida’s head coach came when he landed one of the top safeties in the nation, IMG Academy’s Kamari Wilson, during the early signing period.

Wilson immediately brought star power to the Gators’ 2022 recruiting class, and his signing broke a decade-long IMG Academy curse despite the elite high school program being located in Bradenton. Following the announcement, Napier said that the plan was to keep a relationship with IMG Academy and to bring in more recruits from the in-state gold mine.

Napier took another step in building that relationship this weekend by hosting two of IMG’s top recruits. 2023 four-star defensive lineman Will Norman and Desmond Ricks, the top cornerback in the class of 2024, were unofficial visitors at Florida over the weekend before the dead period begins on Monday.

Norman wants to be committed by the start of his senior year, and he’s not short on offers. Auburn, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Oklahoma and Texas A&M are just a few of the names competing for him, but Norman claims that no one is out in front just yet.

Landing a four-star or five-star recruit from IMG in each of his first three years would be quite the feat for Napier considering Florida’s track record with the school. He’ll have help from Wilson who loves recruiting top tier-talent to play alongside him, especially if they’re from his alma mater.

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