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Florida Flavor: The Gators' 2023 class features an in-state focus

On3 imageby:Zach Abolverdi•12/23/22•

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Photo by Zach Abolverdi/On3

After signing prospects from a school-record 11 different states in his transition class, the 2023 cycle featured a Sunshine State focus from Florida coach Billy Napier and his staff.

The Gators signed 20 high school recruits on National Signing Day, including 14 from the state of Florida. Among their prep signees, the average distance to Gainesville was 293.3 miles.

That average was spiked by the addition of top-100 quarterback Jaden Rashada, who is 2,322 miles away in Pittsburg, California.

“I think, if you look at the group, we definitely used an inside-out approach. We obviously branched out a little bit with the quarterback and obviously into Georgia and Alabama. But I think the majority of the players being Florida players, that’s one of the reasons why this is a great job,” UF coach Billy Napier said.

“Now, obviously there’s a lot of others out there we’d like to have too, but I do think this group reflects our philosophy and certainly the history of championship teams at the University of Florida, in general, when you look at the numbers.”

Over the past two decades, one of the lowest average distances in a UF class was the legendary 2006 class (245.2 miles), which was 64 percent in-state signees.

Since 2000, prospects from Florida have made up 70 percent of the Gators’ recruiting classes just four times (2011, 74%; 2015, 71%; 2017, 75%; 2023, 70%).

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The last time UF hit that percentage in 2017, the 20-member class (three medical hardships) produced two first-round picks and 10 future NFL players once Ventrell Miller gets drafted. Eight of the 10 are from Florida.

In the Gators’ 2023 recruiting class, they signed two of the top 10 players in the Sunshine State and five of the top 20, according to the On3 rankings.

In addition to their 14 in-state signees, Napier and his staff signed three recruits from Georgia and one apiece from Alabama, California and New Jersey.

“I do believe Florida is a national brand, and we can recruit anywhere. We proved that,” Napier said. “Florida has got 275 Division I players a year, so does the state of Georgia. Carolinas are nearby. Alabama is nearby. Kind of consider that the core area.

“You talk about sustainability, proximity to players, really focusing on your radius, I think it helps the evaluation process because you get more exposures to the kid, to the family. They get more exposure to your staff and the University of Florida. So, the more times we can get them here, I think that helps inform them of how special this place is, but also, I think it helps us evaluate the players.”

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