Florida football recruiting: Gators offer top-ten WR Phillip Bell

Florida football recruiting understands the importance of recruiting locally and getting the best talent out of the southeastern states.

But they haven’t been shy about going across the country in their pursuit of the No.1 recruiting class in the 2025 cycle.

The Gators went out to California yesterday to offer Phillip Bell, a 4-star wide receiver in the 2025 class.

Billy Gonzales’s effort making the trips out to Mission Viejo would be well worth it if the Gators can land Bell when it’s all set and done.

Florida football recruiting: Impossible to stop one-on-one

The first thing I noticed when I watched Phillip’s film was that it seemed that he had an answer for everything the defense threw at him, and is near impossible to stop one-on-one.

He runs great routes and is able to gain separation easily, and then has enough speed and acceleration to maintain that distance and make a play down field.

He’s shifty enough with the ball in his hands that he’s a viable option in the screen game, and at 6’1.5” has the height to go up and catch a pass over a defender lucky enough to keep him close.

The Gators don’t go out to California all too often on the recruiting trail. Part of that is because it’s not easy, and the other part is that after Chris Steel and Jaden Rashada, there’s a bit of a sour taste in UF’s mouth.

But if the Gators do go hard after Bell, they’ll have to pass the current favorite to land him in USC which has a 25.5% chance to land him per On3’s RPM, as well as California (15.1%) and Colorado (6.8%).

So do I honestly think that the Gators will send coaches out to Cali in troves to try and get Bell to UF? No.

But if Phillip shows some real interest in Florida, he’s a talent worth keeping an eye on.