Florida State, Florida, and Miami are all in a close race, while out-of-state programs raid the state.
Florida is the most talented state in the nation. The recruiting battles in the Sunshine State are fierce, because who wins and loses them often helps decide conference and national titles. In the last 35 seasons, 11 of college football’s national titles have been won by schools in Florida. Eight more have come via schools in the two states bordering Florida.
I live in Florida and have covered the state for over a decade. In this space, I’ll chronicle who is doing the best, what I’m hearing, and some trends to monitor.
Why out-of-state IMG/Xfer recruits are excluded
For the purposes of determining which schools are recruiting the state the best, I am excluding players from IMG Academy who are not from Florida. A move to IMG Academy is different than other moves. Because it is a boarding school, kids are coming to the school for the purpose of football, not because their family just moved to town. There is nothing tying them to the state. We know that a large majority of players who transfer to IMG from out-of-state return to their home region. By excluding these players, who make up about five of the state’s top-50 in a given year, a clearer picture of the schools recruiting true Florida kids, both in culture and roots, can be attained.
For 2018, these players are DE Nolan Smith (Georgia commit from Atlanta), RB Noah Cain (Penn State, Denton, TX), and WR Shamar Nash (Arkansas commit from Memphis).
Related: Florida linebacker commit Diwun Black moved from Mississippi to Kissimmeee (Fla.) Osceola. He’ll be focused on his grades and not playing football, according to multiple reports. He was committed to UF before moving.
Florida State and Florida lead the way following Early Signing Period
The Florida Gators and Florida State Seminoles are out in front with a combined 13 of the state’s top 41 players from Florida as ranked by the 247Sports Composite. FSU has seven, while the Gators have six.
FSU’s class is led by four-star DB Akeem Dent and four-star guard Dontae Lucas.
Florida’s class is headlined by the Lakeland High School trio of DE Lloyd Summerall, TE Keon Zipperer, and OL Deyavie Hammond.
The Miami Hurricanes were on top for a while, but suffered a huge rash of decommitments. As of Friday, February 1, Miami has five committed on the list. Miami’s class is headlined by four-star receiver Jeremiah Payton and four-star linebacker Avery Huff. Huff is an athletic freak and just scratching the surface of his potential.
Alabama and Clemson are the top out-of-state recruiters.
Clemson has four-star receiver Frank Ladson, four-star offensive lineman Will Putnam, four-star running back Chez Melussi, and four-star defensive tackle Tyler Davis. Ladson is an elite deep threat.
Alabama had a huge signing day in Florida, bringing in five-star running back Trey Sanders and five-star offensive tackle Evan Neal. Alabama also landed four-star edge rusher Braylen Ingraham and flipped four-star safety Jordan Battle from Ohio State. Alabama is the only school to sign a five star recruit out of Florida who is actually from Florida.
It shouldn’t be surprising that these programs are doing so well with Florida recruits. Clemson has done well in the Sunshine State for a decade plus. Dabo Swinney is still well known for securing the commitment of C.J. Spiller in the 2006 class.
Alabama basically gets whomever it wants on a national level, more often than not.
Where the elite unsigned kids might go?
Note: Not all four- and five-star players will be discussed here. Some have been intentionally left off because the offers they frequently mention are not actual options for them, per people with knowledge of the programs mentioned.
- Florida seems to have an edge for elite cornerback Kaiir Elam, though Georgia is pursuing hard.
- Miami, Florida, Georgia, Auburn, and Penn State will be fighting to land four-star athlete Mark Antony-Richards.
- Four-star defensive end Khris Bogle is committed to Alabama, but Florida, Miami, and Tennessee are pursuing.
The takeaway
Florida State (seven), Florida (six), and Miami (five) all have their fair share of in-state four- and five-stars. None is really on pace to blow the other two away.
But the bigger takeaway might be the failure of the big three to retain the state’s best talents. More than half of the committed/signed players on the list are leaving the state of Florida. In addition to Alabama and Clemson, Georgia also signed multiple in-state stars.
Rankings via the 247Sports Composite.