Florida Football Recruiting: The curious case of Xavier Filsaime

With the firing of Corey Raymond this week, all eyes have been on Florida football commit Xavier Filsaime. The five-star safety out of Texas has been locked in with the Gators since April, when he committed during the Spring Game.

But despite outwardly claiming he is still locked in with Florida as Early National Signing Day approaches, there continues to be enough smoke that indicates Billy Napier and crew still have some work to do to get Filsaime on campus come January.

Florida Football: Teetering at the finish line

There have been rumblings throughout November that Texas was making a big push for Filsaime. Texas officially offered him in October and took an unofficial visit on November 21.

When news broke that Florida football let Raymond go, Filsaime took to X to express his bewilderment.

Despite his initial frustration, Filsame hopped on Instagram Live and stated that he was still locked in with the Gators while talking with other commits.

"““We tryna flip the program around that’s why we gotta stay bruh….it’s a business, Nape had to do what he had to do”"

That was Monday, and it seemed all was well. Fast forward to Friday, and another wrinkle to the story has been added.

247 Sports reported that Filsaime is planning to take an official visit to Austin next weekend. Initially, Filsaime hopped on X to dispute the report but then deleted his post.

The 247 story is still up, and it would seem to indicate that, as of now, Filsaime will be on campus in Austin next weekend.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Visits don’t automatically mean flips. How often has Jeremiah Smith been on campus in Gainesville with seemingly little movement of the needle toward the Gators?

But the seeds of doubt can become planted whenever a rival program can gain the ear of a top commit. Austin Simmons and Jamonta Waller are two recent examples of players who kept popping up on a rival campus before flipping.

Only Filsaime knows what his true intentions are. But he is a cornerstone piece to the 2024 class that Napier can not afford to lose if he wants Florida to finish inside the top five this recruiting cycle.