Florida football recruiting: The biggest flips in Gator recruiting history
By Will Thomas
Florida football recruiting biggest flips: Chauncey Gardner Johnson (2016-2018)
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson was one of the best defensive players that the Gators had during his career but almost didn’t end up in Gainesville.
Ranked as a top-five CB in the 2014 class and a top-ten player coming out of Florida, the Miami Hurricane caught his eye early and secured his commitment in June of 2013.
About a year later, CJ attended a camp at UF, received an offer, and immediately flipped his pledge to the Gators.
But the ride didn’t stop there.
In January 2015, after being committed for about six months, Chauncey de-committed from the Gators and started taking visits elsewhere.
After including the Gators in his top ten and making a return trip for Junior Day in March, Gardner-Johnson re-committed to the Gators for the final time and stayed solid after taking a few more visits.
And the Gators are fortunate that he chose to stick around because he made an instant impact on Florida’s defense.
In his freshman season, he totaled 32 tackles and three interceptions, including a pick-six against Iowa in the Gators’ bowl game.
In his sophomore year, he racked up 58 more tackles and two interceptions, leading up to his final year in 2017 with 71 tackles, four interceptions, and two pick-sixes.
CJ is now finding a good bit of success in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles, and will likely be a big part of that defense as they try to win a Super Bowl in the coming years.