Florida Gators Get Commitment from Sleeper Defensive Lineman from Georgia

The Florida Gators are taking a chance on a high-upside defensive lineman from the state of Georgia.

Florida Gators assistant coach for defensive line Gerald Chatman gets a fun project in Joseph Mbatchou. / Matt Pendleton / USA TODAY NETWORK

Fireworks continued to burst on Wednesday, as the Florida Gators landed their third commitment in the span of two hours. 

The third commit of the day comes from 6-foot-6, 285-pound defensive lineman Joseph Mbatchou who plays his football in Loganville, Ga. for Grayson High School. 

He is currently unranked across all recruiting industries, but does hold offers from schools such as Georgia State, Georgia Southern and Toledo among other offers. And the reason he may have no offers from Power Four schools right now is most likely due to him being new to the game of football. 

First look at Grayson 2025 DL @JoeMbatchou out here today.

“Big monster.”

Incredible story. It’s about to get even better for the 6-foot-6 and 285-pound prospect. ⌛️

I’m told that this is his first year playing football. The great @CoachGCarswell has found another one. pic.twitter.com/n2zMcw6OHR

— Jeff Sentell (@jeffsentell) July 18, 2024

He looks as physically gifted as some of the other prospects in the class who are ranked higher than him as well. So, give him a full year to transition into the game and develop and you could see the offer sheet grow extremely long. 

Mbatchou joins 2026 four-star safety Devin Jackson and newly reclassified 2025 four-star athlete Demetres Samuel Jr. in committing to the Gators on the final day of July. His pledge also puts the Gators as 12 total commits in the 2025 class once everything is official on recruiting services. 

Now, recruiting wasn’t up to SEC standards before the month of July, but if you take a look back over the last month, it has been eventful to say the least for the Gators. Over the past 30 days, they have seen a total of five recruits across the 2025 and 2026 classes commit to the Orange & Blue. This includes highly rated Vernel Brown III who committed just 10 days ago. 

And, don’t expect the Gators to stop anytime soon on the trail as there have been multiple other players who have received predictions to land in the class. 

However, as of now, the Gators’ 2025 class ranks 59th in the country, according to 247Sports. Although look for that number to jump once Samuels Jr. is added to the 2025 class.