Please Read: Welcome to the new-look Inside the Gators
- 10 Most Wanted
- Redshirt Report: High football IQ will serve Kearney well
- 20 Pre-Spring Class of 2025 In-State Names to Know
- Ranking Florida’s 11 Transfer Portal additions
- Great Eight Signees
- Anonymous Player Q&A I: Thoughts on the state of Florida football
- O&B Board: Uninformed Thoughts on Florida’s NIL
- Under Napier, Florida has a clear recruiting footprint
On Thursday Florida received its first commitment (that stuck) in roughly four months when Havana (Fla.) Gadsden County three-star defensive tackle Jeramiah McCloud went public with his pledge to the Gators.
IN HIS WORDS
“I have a great relationship with the coaches and having someone like Jalen Wiggins, knowing he’s onboard, iut’s like why not. I wanted to commit and start to help recruiting the Class of [20]25.” – McCloud on why he decided to commit at this time
“The coaches have been wanting me to commit, so I made a commitment yesterday [Wednesday] when they came to visit the school. The coaches were very excited.” – McCloud on how his pledge went down
“I went to watch practice a couple of times and I saw that he coaches hard, and that’s the way I like to be coached.” – McCloud on Gerald Chatman‘s coaching style
“I’ve seen Coach [Billy] Napier do it a lot, so I did it.” – McCloud on tweeting out Napier’s patented sunglass emoji on Wednesday night
COMMITMENT IMPACT
Forget what he brings on the field, Florida bringing an end to their almost four-month-long commitment drought by adding a highly sought-after defensive lineman is a huge deal. It helps build some momentum as UF heads into the summer official visit season. Also, McCloud told Inside the Gators that he wanted to commit at this time to help start recruiting other prospects in this class. The first name he threw out as the prospect he is recruiting hardest is fellow defensive lineman, four-star Auburn commit Malik Autry. Plus, having McCloud on board could help solidify current commit Jalen Wiggins – who plans summer official visits to Florida State and Stanford.
RANKING REVIEW
Industry Comparison Ranking via On3
THE BOTTOM LINE
As I have stated multiple times, I am a star whore. I believe that, on average, the most likely indicator of a prospect’s probability to succeed on the next level is the number of stars by his name. And, by the time the final rankings are assigned, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if McCloud is a four-star across the board.
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