Billy Napier Previews Big Recruiting Weekend When Gators Host Tigers

Florida's upcoming bye week will allow the Gators' coaching staff to spend additional time with recruits in town for the LSU game.

Photo: Billy Napier and DJ Lagway; Credit: Alex Shepherd

Florida hasn't hosted any official visits since the summer, with 33 recruits making the trip to Gainesville across the month of June. 

The results of UF's offseason recruiting visits were fruitful. The Gators have compiled a 2023 class of 20 commitments, including 13 of those visitors, good for the No. 12 ranking in the country according to Sports Illustrated.

The lack of OVs will change this weekend with four class of 2023 prospects expected to make their official trek to The Swamp and watch the Gators take on the LSU Tigers: Ponte Vedra (Fla.) Nease quarterback commit Marcus Stokes, Montgomery (Ala.) Carver teammates in defensive lineman James Smith and edge rusher Qua Russaw, and Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton safety Bryce Thornton, per 247Sports. 

Of note, Thornton is scheduled to announce his college commitment on Thursday, the day before his official visit to UF begins.

Head coach Billy Napier spoke to the challenge of hosting in-season official visits during Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference, acknowledging that Florida's bye week after the matchup with LSU created the opportunity to put more time than usual into a recruiting weekend at this point in the year.

"I think that in-season official visits are always a challenge," Napier explained, "just because your staff is a little bit, their attention is divided relative to doing the absolute best job to what you can do for your current team, but also doing a good job with the recruits.

"You know, we always host recruits for games, we’ve got a handful of official visitors [this weekend]. We’ve got an open date the next week, right, so that creates a little bit different schedule Sunday [and] Monday for this staff so we’re able to get a little bit more time with this group.” 

Additionally, GatorsOnline's Corey Bender reported on Tuesday that Florida is hopeful to receive an official visit from Tampa (Fla.) Berkeley Prep edge rusher Keon Keeley this weekend. Keeley is considered the No. 1 defensive end and No. 3 overall prospect in the class of 2023 according to the SI99. 

Several standout recruits from the class of 2024 will be in Gainesville this weekend as well, All Gators reporter Conner Clarke has confirmed, such as Willis (Texas) High quarterback DJ Lagway and Chaminade-Madonna Prep wide receivers Josiah Trader of Hollywood (Fla.) and Jeremiah Smith of Opa Locka (Fla.).

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