Florida football recruiting: Gators go out west to offer top-10 OT Douglas Utu

Florida football recruiting is reaching out to every part of the country as they look to assemble an elite 2025 recruiting class.

Most recently they went out west to extend an offer to a top-40 player, and top-10 offensive tackle in the country.

Douglas Utu, a big lineman out of Bishop Gorman in Nevada, is one of Billy Napier’s latest offers in the ’25 cycle.

Going that far west to bring a guy to Florida isn’t easy, but Napier and his staff have good reason to be going after Utu.

Florida football recruiting: Stacking up the size

We’ve referenced time and time again how big the Gators’ OL is set up to be this fall. We’ve also talked about the size of recruits that are coming in for Florida in the 2024 class.

Well, Napier is sticking with that same formula for 2025 it appears.

Utu is a big man upfront, standing at 6’5”-270. It’s hard to ignore him when he’s getting off the bus.

For a big guy, he moves pretty well. He’s flexible in his lower half and has the quickness to pop outside, as well as fire up towards the second level of the defense.

On3’s Industry Ranking has Douglas ranked as the 36th-best player in the country, the 7th-best offensive tackle, and the best player coming out of Nevada. It’s hard not to get excited about his guy when you see those ranks.

Right now, west coast teams lead for Utu as his recruitment is still in its beginning stages. USC is the favorite, followed by UCLA and Arizona State.

Again, it’s going to take a lot of work for Napier and his staff to get Utu all the way to Gainesville to play his college ball.

But if a couple of visits go well and the program continues to trend up, what’s stopping the Gators from being a major contender?