Florida Gators Finish in SI All-American's Top 25 Recruiting Rankings
Photo: Billy Napier; Credit: Zach Goodall
For the most part, the recruiting class of 2022 is in the books. With National Signing Day having come and gone, programs across the country have finalized their haul of high school prospects who will take a spot on their football rosters for the upcoming season and beyond.
Primarily due to the results of the Early Signing Period, although they received a small boost on National Signing Day, the Florida Gators have reclaimed a spot in Sports Illustrated All-American's top 25 recruiting rankings at No. 21 after falling off the list at the beginning of December, as UF transitioned from Dan Mullen to Billy Napier as the program's head coach.
You can find SI All-American's final evaluation of Florida's haul of 2022 recruits below.
21. Florida
17 Verbal Commitments, 3 SI99 Members
The Gators missed on their top targets Wednesday, but did not strike out. Wide receiver Caleb Douglas committed and the program held off Alabama and others for late-rising offensive lineman Jalen Farmer.
Now, it's worth mentioning that Florida's National Signing Day performance was underwhelming. The Gators were in contention to land another handful of top talents on Wednesday, including the nation's No. 2 linebacker Harold Perkins (LSU), No. 7 safety Jacoby Mathews (Texas A&M), arguably the best running back available in TreVonte' Citizen (Miami), but came up short for each prospect.
That being said, the Gators received signed national letters of intent from eight prospects on Wednesday to go along with nine signatures obtained in the Early Signing Period, including a new commitment from wide receiver Caleb Douglas who opted for Florida over LSU, and held onto a commitment from guard Jalen Farmer despite a late push from Alabama, Kentucky and Auburn as SI All-American noted.
The second batch of signees included a quarterback in Max Brown, who flipped to Florida from Central Michigan and had interest from Washington late in the process. An honorable mention SI All-American candidate, running back Trevor Etienne put pen to paper with the Gators as well, along with tight end Hayden Hansen, edge rusher Jack Pyburn, defensive lineman Andrew Savaiinaea, and safety Miguel Mitchell.
The Gators' eight Wednesday signees join No. 3 safety Kamari Wilson, No. 3 linebacker Shemar James, No. 8 defensive lineman Chris McClellan, No. 9 cornerback Devin Moore, tight end Tony Livingston, offensive linemen David Conner and Christian Williams, defensive lineman Jamari Lyons and kicker Trey Smack as members of Florida's 2022 recruiting class, resulting in a 17 prospect haul from the high school level.
You can find the closing top 25 class rankings from SI All-American in their entirety below.
1. Texas A&M
2. Alabama
3. Georgia
4. Texas
5. Ohio State
6. Penn State
7. Notre Dame
8. Clemson
9. Oklahoma
10. Michigan
11. Missouri
12. Tennessee
13. Stanford
14. LSU
15. North Carolina
16. Auburn
17. Miami
18. Kentucky
19. Michigan State
20. Mississippi State
21. Florida
22. South Carolina
23. Arizona
24. Florida State
25. Ole Miss
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