Florida football recruiting: Gators offer top ten OT in 2025

Florida football recruiting and Billy Napier are looking ahead in order to strengthen their depth on the offensive line, and are going after some of the top linemen in the country.

Yesterday, they extended an offer to Jaelyne Matthews, a 4-star OL recruit in the 2025 class.

Matthews is currently committed to Penn State, so the Gators have a good bit of work to do if they want to land the talented big man.

247 Sports Composite Rankings have Matthews as the 65th-best player in the country, the 8th-best OT in the class, and the top player coming out of New Jersey.

Matthews got plenty of reps on both sides of the ball in his sophomore season for Toms River North and was very effective both ways.

Defensively, he totaled 51 tackles, 12 TFLs, 1.5 sacks, an interception, two pass deflections, and two fumble recoveries.

He made an impact in just about every way a DL can.

Offensively, he was a freight train running through defenders. At 6’5”-290, Matthews has the size to push people around without even slowing down.

He was reliable in pass blocking, bringing stability to his side of the line. And while he isn’t the fleetest on his feet, he showed a willingness and ability to get to the second level of the defense and bulldoze linebackers and safeties on run plays.

I’ve said it 100 times, but the Gators’ interest in Matthews continues the pattern of UF going after elite Big Ten commits across multiple recruiting classes.

Flipping Jaelyne from Penn State would be a big win for Florida for multiple reasons.

First, it shows that the Gators are back on the level required to always be attractive to elite recruits. Second, Matthews would bolster up the OL depth and make it appeal to other offensive recruits.

Only time will tell if the Gators can pull it off.

Keep up with Florida football recruiting at Hail Florida Hail.