Florida Football Recruiting: Jeremiah Smith shows off speed in Gainesville

In the world of Florida football recruiting, it never hurts to have prospects return to your campus. While Billy Napier spent his weekend entertaining another batch of recruits, one of the biggest flip targets for the Gators was hanging out at the Percy Beard Track.

And if you wondered whether Jeremiah Smith’s speed on the field has legit track times to back it up, Smith reminded everyone this weekend in Gainesville it does.

Florida Football: Track speed

We said this when covering Florida commit Chauncey Bowens, a lot of guys claim to have track speed but few back it up.

Competing in the Florida Relays with Chaminade-Madonna Prep, Smith competed in the 110-meter hurdles, his specialty event, and the 4 x 200-meter dash relay.

Taking part in a loaded field, Smith ran 14.63 seconds in the 110 hurdles to come in 6th.

Coming in 6th may not sound super impressive, but his lifetime best is currently the 14th-best time in all of Florida, and he holds the top mark in class 1A by almost half a second.

Napier and crew have been working hard to flip the five-star wide receiver from Ohio State. Smith was on campus recently and DJ Lagway was there too, working hard to convince Smith to flip.

While Napier has done a great job bringing in four-star prospects, the lack of genuine five-star guys has been his weak spot to this point. Some of this has been due to NIL issues out of his control, but if Florida football intends to make a legit run at Georgia in the future, it will need to land guys like Smith.

Smith’s appearance at the Florida Relays doesn’t means he is one step closer to flipping. But taking part in one of UF’s premier events on the high school track and field calendar can’t hurt.