Five-Star Recruit Names Florida Gators as 'Legit Contender' to Flip Him

Following his official visit to Florida over the weekend, a top defensive recruit took a liking to what Billy Napier is building

Billy Napier might have a shot at flipping a top defensive recruit / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The Florida Gators are suddenly a “legit contender” to land one of the top cornerback recruits from the 2025 recruiting class, Na’eem Offord. According to On3’s Hayes Fawcett, this was told to him by Offord directly. 

The five-star recruit likes what could be coming together at Florida, especially with the quarterback they have. 

“I feel like Florida is gonna be a top contender the next couple years with DJ [Lagway] at QB,” Offord said. “He plays a big role. Plus they’re young with multiple freshmen on the field.”

Florida has emerged as a “legit contender” in Five-Star Plus+ CB Na’eem Offord’s recruitment, he tells me for @on3recruits

He added:

“I feel like Florida is gonna be a top contender the next couple years with DJ (Lagway) at QB. He plays a big role. Plus they’re young with… pic.twitter.com/kwqm1gsxlV

— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) November 20, 2024

It shows how quickly things can change. Just the day before, Fawcett posted a tweet discussing Offord’s commitment and Florida isn’t even included. It’s just Ohio State, Auburn and Oregon. 

Lo and behold, here comes Florida. 

The 2025 recruit is ranked as the No. 4 player in the country and the top player at his position and from Alabama, according to ESPN. 

Offord is currently committed to Ohio State, the No. 2 team in the country. It seems absurd at first thought that he would walk away from a program currently competing for a national title, but that was before Offord saw Saturday’s win over LSU. 

He visited Florida over the weekend along with other top recruits. Other top recruits in attendance include Texas wide receiver commit Jaime Ffrench and Four-star quarterback Trammell Jones - the latter of which has already switched his commitment to Florida. 

The Gators’ 2025 recruiting class is now ranked 28th in the country and 13th in the SEC according to 247 Sports. Heading into the weekend, the ranked 43rd and second to last in the 16-school SEC. Things are starting to look better for them. 

When head coach Billy Napier’s job is no longer a week-to-week conversation, it’s easier to convince high school graduates to choose a college. There isn’t that uncertainty anymore.