Florida Football Recruiting: Gators need to make push for Faheem Delane

Playing safety in the SEC is difficult, and Florida football fans can attest to what happens when a team doesn’t have high-level safety play. Part of why Patrick Toney’s defensive scheme fell apart, and what is going to dictate Austin Armstrong’s success, was the lack of a top-end safety.

Faheem Delane is still two years away from college football, but if his film is any indication, he is a top-tier prospect that Billy Napier needs to covet even if he doesn’t have the full attention of all the recruiting publications yet.

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Delane is rated as four-star safety by Rivals and On3, but is unrated at the moment by 247 (though their 2025 rankings only go 100 players deep at the moment). He dropped his top 11 schools yesterday and the Florida Gators are in the mix.

What makes Delane exciting as a prospect is that even as a high school sophomore he understands so many elements of the safety position that college seniors seem to struggle with. He comes downhill to stop the run when needed, he rotates in coverage as a single high safety when needed, he holds the outside edge when needed, and he drops the boom when needed.

Outside of the fact that he will need to put on more weight over the next couple of years, there is very little to critique about Delane and say has to improve or else.

The fact that teams like Alabama, Ohio State, LSU, and Southern Cal are also in on Delane should say something about the upside that he has as a college football safety.

Napier and Corey Raymond are going to have their work cut out for them to land Delane. On3 has him predicted to Penn State, but there is plenty of time for that to change.