Florida football recruiting: Gators making moves on 5-star DL

Florida football recruiting is in play for more 5-star players this cycle than they have been in years past, and Billy Napier isn’t slowing down.

The latest development is that the Gators are making some real progress with 5-star DL David Stone, who currently attends IMG Academy.

Corey Bender of On3 reported that multiple Gator coaches are going “all in” on the elite DL and that he is near the top of their recruiting board.

All this work and effort is well placed, as Stone is a composite top-5 DL in the 2024 class and a top-20 player in the country.

Napier and co. have a good bit of work to do if they want to land Stone, as there are a couple of other schools atop David’s recruitment at this point.

The Oklahoma Sooners lead on On3’s prediction machine with an 80.6% chance to land Stone, with Michigan State in second at 15%.

Stone is originally from Oklahoma City, so his home state Sooners being on top isn’t too big of a shock. Despite Okie’s lead, the Gators are doing a number on Stone.

He had this to say to On3:

"“There’s just something about the Gators; I don’t know what it is. Ever since my first visit, I fell in love with the place.”"

Those are pretty strong words, and a good sign for the Gators as David’s recruitment continues. UF still needs to land an official visit from Stone if they want a real chance to land him, but given the hot streak the Gators have been on on that front, I like their odds.

This isn’t the first time that Stone has had high praise for Florida and Napier. As we wrote about a few weeks ago, Stone has a great relationship with Billy Napier.

It’s hard for me to count the Gators out of any recruitment at this point. We’ll see if the Gators can finish the job here.

Keep up with Florida football recruiting at Hail Florida Hail.