Florida football recruiting: Gators in top seven for top-5 TE in 2024

Florida football recruiting appears to be amping up their focus on tight ends in the 2024 class. They made the cut for Eric Karner yesterday, and now are in the top seven for a top-five TE in the cycle.

The Gators made the cut for Caleb Odom, who released his list earlier today.

Odom, out of Carrollton, Georgia, is a highly-rated prospect, but in my opinion, he may still be underrated.

Other teams on his list include Georgia, Alabama, Colorado, Ole Miss, and others.

247 Sports has Odom ranked as the 68th-best player in the country, the 5th-best tight end in his class, and the 11th-best player coming out of Georgia. Other recruiting services have him as high as the 3rd-best tight end.

This may be unpopular among Gator fans when I say what I’m about to say.

When I looked at Odom’s film, within three plays I said, “This guy is Kyle Pitts.” I have never had that reaction to any player at any level.

Odom stands at 6’6”-215, so he’s still a good bit lighter than Pitts, but that size will come with time.

Caleb’s route-running ability at his size is exceptional. He makes double moves better than a lot of receivers and has the same ability as Kyle to just reach up and snag the ball over a defender.

Odom is also a willing blocker, using his legs to drive the defender down to the ground, taking him completely out of the play.

The good news for Billy Napier and the Gators is that Odom has already been to campus twice, once in October of 2021 and once in January for Junior Day.

The bad news is that schools like Ole Miss are currently favored in his recruitment, and his only OV thus far is to Miami.

The Gators will need to put in a lot of work to get Caleb on their squad. But after years of not being able to use Pitts’ success as a recruiting tool, using it to land a mini version of Kyle seems like the right time.

Keep up with Florida football recruiting at Hail Florida Hail.