On3 has recently updated its recruiting rankings, with the Florida Gators coming in at No. 10 nationally. They are the No. 4 team in the SEC behind Alabama (No. 1), Georgia (No. 2) and LSU (No. 6).
The Gators had an up-and-down summer on the recruiting trail. In June, they missed out on multiple highly regarded prospects, including four-star quarterback Jaden Rashada who committed to in-state rival Miami. The sentiment among the fan base was so negative, first-year head coach Billy Napier had to issue an open letter urging patience in the recruiting process.
Since Napier published that letter, Florida has received commitments from 15 players, all of them four-star prospects. At the end of July, the Gators hosted their annual Friday Night Lights recruiting event. The next day, they followed it up with a cookout for recruits that was regarded as a massive success. That turnaround was enough to give Napier the moniker “Blue-Chip Billy”.
The recruiting chatter has died down in recent weeks, as the start of the 2022 season has the attention of the college football world. But that doesn’t mean that recruiting has stopped. While previous Florida coaches would shy away from having recruiting conversations during the season, Napier has embraced the 24/7 nature of recruiting in 2022.
The next step is to produce results on the field. Florida started the season off with a big win against Utah. They then lost their SEC opener to Kentucky and narrowly escaped against a USF team that they should have dominated. It will be interesting to see how the Gators’ performance affects recruiting throughout the rest of the season.
The Florida Gators take on the Tennessee Volunteers this Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. EDT. The game will be broadcast on CBS. College GameDay, ESPN’s college football pregame show, will be in Knoxville Saturday morning, the show’s first return to Neyland Stadium since 2016.
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