Florida football recruiting: Gators still leading for Fred Gaskin III

Florida football recruiting is looking to round out its 2024 class with a flurry of talented in-state prospects.

One of those guys is Fred Gaskin III, a 4-star safety out of Ocala, Florida, who’s an elite two-way player for Vanguard.

The Gators have been leading in his recruitment for quite some time, and are maintaining that advantage as we head towards the fall.

Gaskin has the versatility and play-making ability that college coaches love and could be explosive in the Orange and Blue.

Florida football recruiting: Nothing he can’t do

As I said before Gaskin is a two-way player for Vanguard, and is pretty dang good on both sides. He started at both QB and DB last season and put up numbers.

As a quarterback, he threw for 1,492 yards and 18 touchdowns, as well as running for 582 yards and punched it in five times. Defensively he racked up 18 tackles, four pass breakups, three interceptions, and a forced fumble.

The Gators are recruiting him to be a safety, so that’s what we’ll focus on. He’s very disciplined in coverage and never gets lost staring into the backfield.

He also has the speed and acceleration to make up any lost ground downfield and also uses his speed in pursuit. He flies downhill toward ball carriers and gives them a pop when he meets them.

On3’s Industry Ranking currently rates Gaskin as the 341st-best player in the country, the 36th-best safety in the class, and the 47th-best player coming out of Florida.

On3’s RPM lists the Gators as the favorite in his recruitment with a 44.8% chance to land him, ahead of Alabama in second at 23.8%.

Fred has made five trips to Gainesville, but none this year. He hasn’t been very active making tons of visits, which makes me think he may have his mind made up.

If Billy Napier and the Gators can close on him, he’ll be making flashy plays in The Swamp for years to come.