Florida Gators continue to rise in On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings

Florida continues to gain momentum on the recruiting trail after back-to-back upset wins on the field.

Four-star linebacker Ty Jackson out of Loxahatchee (Fla.) flipped his commitment from USC to the Gators on Monday morning. A few hours later, three-stars Muizz Tounkara and Jahari Medlock flipped from Arizona and Cincinnati, respectively. Exactly 24 hours after Jackson’s flip, four-star American Heritage (Fla.) running back Byron Louis jumped from Florida State to the Gators.

Louis had been pledged the ‘Noles since September, but took visits to Gainesville on back-to-back weekends this month before flipping.

The quartet of new commits joins a growing UF class that moved from No. 26 to No. 17 nationally in the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings with their pledges.

They are the fifth, sixth and seventh, and eighth commitment in the past 2 1/2 weeks since the Gators opted to retain head coach Billy Napier for next season. In that time, the Gators have pulled off consecutive upsets of LSU and Ole Miss to get themselves bowl-eligible after a 4-5 start.

More targets left on the board for the Gators

The Gators are now up to 19 commitments in the cycle, giving them plenty of runway to continue to move up in the rankings. Last week, On3’s Hunter Shelton detailed the path for the Gators to get into the top 10 of the team rankings, and that didn’t even include adding Jackson.

Among the potential future Gators are five-stars Solomon Thomas (committed to Florida State), as well as receivers Jaime Ffrench (Texas) and Dallas Wilson (Oregon).

Ffrench visited recently, and On3’s Steve Wiltfong gave the latest on his recruitment last week.

“Texas has a battle on its hands to keep Ffrench in the fold after a visit to Gainesville this weekend. Ffrench is thinking strongly about staying in-state and loves the idea of playing with DJ Lagway in Gainesville,” Wiltfong wrote on Monday. “I like the way it’s lining up for Florida.”

Thomas is another Gators fans will want to keep an eye on, as he’s always had them among his top schools. He told On3’s Chad Simmons that UF has continued to make a good impression on him. He plans to announce his final decision next week.

“If everything gets taken care of by Dec. 4, then I could sign then, but I am thinking Dec. 5 right now,” he told Simmons. “We will see how it goes. It is between Florida State, Florida and LSU. I am just going to keep praying on things, and when I know, I will make that final decision.”