Despite an up-and-down season on the field, the Florida Gators have maintained their place among the 2023 recruiting class. In Sports Illustrated’s November update to their recruiting rankings, the Orange and Blue have improved one spot, moving from their October spot of No. 12 to No. 11.
This is positive but surprising news for Billy Napier and his staff. The Gators noticeably struck out on [autotag]Cormani McClain[/autotag], the nation’s No. 1 cornerback per multiple recruiting services, when he announced his surprise commitment to the University of Miami. Considered to be a Florida lock by multiple recruiting outlets for weeks, the miss felt like a hard stop on the positive recruiting momentum that Napier built over the summer.
Despite losing out the top player in the state of Florida, Sports Illustrated values the other October recruiting moves enough to bump the Gators up slightly in their rankings. Here is what their analysts had to say about Florida’s October on the recruiting trail:
McClain miss aside, October was tangibly strong for Billy Napier and company on the trail. It starts with a bigger need than cornerback satisfied in flipping [autotag]Roderick Kearny[/autotag] from Florida State. The SI99 offensive line recruit has multiple-position ability on a college-ready frame. Earlier in the month, UF all but wrapped up its defensive back recruiting with the pledge of former Ohio State commitment [autotag]Dijon Johnson[/autotag] and Atlanta-area safety [autotag]Bryce Thornton[/autotag] on the same day.
Reading that the defensive back class is still strong makes the McClain miss easier to swallow. The Kearny flip was massive too, especially given that Florida took him from their biggest in-state rival. Overall, missing out on one player is not going to destroy the entire class, even if that player would have done wonders for the perception of the Florida program.
One way to improve recruiting is to show results on the field. The Gators’ next opportunity to do that is Saturday when they travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M. Kickoff is scheduled for noon EDT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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