Tag: Demetres Samuel Jr.

Gators DB commit flips back to Syracuse following visit

Florida managed to flip four-star safety Demetres Samuel Jr. over the summer, but a slow start to the season has him back with Syracuse.

They say that no commitment in modern college football recruiting is a lock until the player is on campus and enrolled in classes. Look no further than four-star safety [autotag]Demetres Samuel Jr[/autotag]. for proof.

On Sunday, the former Syracuse commit who flipped to Florida and reclassified as a 2025 recruit announced at the end of July has now decommitted from the Gators and flipped back to the Orange.

The move comes after a weekend in New York and following a 2-2 start for Florida. Samuel hinted at his recruitment being open earlier in the month, adding that he planned to take official visits to several schools, including Alabama, Florida, Syracuse and UCF.

Florida’s 2025 recruiting class

The loss of Samuel brings Florida down to 13 verbal commitments from the class of 2025. While the Gators still have four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. in the fold, he’s the only defensive back in the class for now.

Florida has offered 27 different safeties from the class of 2025, according to Swmap247, but all of them are committed elsewhere already. There is a chance Florida flips one of the in-state targets, but this will be a thin secondary class for the Gators.

Recruiting Summary

Samuel is a consensus four-star recruit who is ranked as high as No. 123 overall in the class of 2025 by On3.

The 247Sports composite puts him at No. 242 nationally and No. 21 at his position, while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 207 and 18, respectively.

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Florida DB commit planning official visits ahead of signing period

Demetres Samuel Jr. reclassified when he committed to Florida leaving little time for him to schedule and official visit with the Gators.

Florida successfully flipped Heritage (Palm Bay) safety [autotag]Demetres Samuel Jr[/autotag]. from Syracuse over the summer, but a reclassification from the 2026 grad class to 2025 means he only has so much time left to get his official visit in.

Blake Alderman of 247Sports spoke with Samuel after Florida’s recent win over Mississippi State and reported that UF is likely to host him on an official visit before national signing day.

“It’s going to have to be in-season, but probably will do those sometime around November since signing day is closer to the start of December now,” Samuel said. “Sometime when my season is done. I am going to definitely do one with Florida. Then some others, definitely UCF, definitely Syracuse and I may do one to Alabama.”

It’s not ideal for Samuel to take multiple trips in the months before the early signing period, but it sounds like Florida has a good chance to keep him in the fold. Besides the verbal commitment, Samuel sees an opportunity to play early in Gainesville.

“They are running a little shallow on the depth chart with some guys hurt, but that’s why they went out and wanted to get me,” he said. “I see they run a lot of man, and like to play a lot of press man.”

Samuel also backed Florida head coach Billy Napier, adding that he’s blocking out the social media noise. He’s still high on Florida and says that he would have decommitted already if he had any doubts about the program.

Recruiting Summary

Samuel is a consensus four-star recruit ranked the highest by On3 at No. 123 overall on the site’s standalone rankings. The 247Sports composite has him at No. 242 nationally and No. 21 among safeties in the class of 2025, while the On3 industry ranking is slightly more bullish at Nos. 207 and 18, respectively.

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Florida flips ACC safety commit, will reclassify to 2025 class

The Gators added to their 2025 recruiting haul with the addition of former Syracuse Orange commit and four-star safety Demetres Samuel Jr.

Not too long ago, Florida football’s 2025 recruiting haul was anything but impressive. However, over the past month, things have been improving for the Gators in the upcoming class — thanks in large part to a series of recent coups.

On Wednesday, former Syracuse Orange commit and four-star safety [autotag]Demetres Samuel Jr[/autotag]. out of Palm Bay (Florida) Heritage flipped to Billy Napier’s program. The announcement comes after an unofficial visit last weekend at Florida’s Grill in the Ville event.

The 6-foot, 185-pound defensive back was originally a member of the Class of 2026 but has instead chosen to enroll along with the 2025 group.

Why Samuel picked Florida over Syracuse

When push came to shove, the Orange and Blue simply had more to offer than just the Orange.

“I got family here. It’s like a DNA thing to me. I grew up in Florida. So why not?” Samuel rhetorically asked.

Billy Napier’s staff have focused strongly on a family approach to building its roster and that paradigm continued to shine with the recent commit.

“They’re always going to try to keep me home, so they are going to try to make everything feel good, and make me feel like I’m at home. I feel good because Coach Harris and Coach (Beyah Rasool) always going to make me feel at home because it’s Florida. It definitely feels good.”

On reclassifying to the 2025 class

As for the decision to move up to the Class of 2025, it took a bit of rumination on the thought before he came to his conclusion.

“It was a decision me, my parents, and coaches thought was a good decision,” Samuel said. “High school, I love high school and all, but sometimes you have to move on. I thought it was a better decision for me.”

Recapping Samuel’s most recent trip

“It was good getting to meet some new people, some new recruits, and some new commits and stuff, Samuel offered. “So that was good. Being able to connect with other people and other coaches and stuff.”

As far as what impressed him the most during the visit, Samuel had a difficult time picking just one thing out of the many cookout game challenges.

“I would probably say winning the whole thing. We won the whole thing. We did the rap battle, double dare, and the scavenger hunt. That rap battle was fun though. We got to make a little music video. It was cool.”

Recruiting Summary

Samuel is ranked No. 225 overall and No. 20 at his position nationally according to the 247Sports composite while the On3 industry ranking has him at Nos. 205 and 9, respectively.

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