Florida flips the script with major EDGE commitment for 2026

Florida just landed KJ Ford, a four-star EDGE out of Texas, after a roller coaster of a week that would make the lead changes in Mario Kart seem tame.

In reality, there will still be work to do to get Ford on campus come January, but for now, the Gators have landed a must-have player for the class of 2026.

KJ Ford commits to the Gators

Ford is ranked as high as 98th by 247 Sports and has an On3 Industry Ranking of 116. He was seen as a Gator lean last week after he announced his final three of Florida, Texas A&M, and Ohio State. While Ford had once been seen as an A&M lean, they seemed to fall out of the picture.

What threw everyone for a curveball was on Thursday when insider predictions started saying that Ford could go to Alabama, who weren't in his top three.

Those same insiders started backing off the Alabama train on Friday and felt confident Ford would land with the Gators when he made his announcement Friday night.

When we profiled Ford last week, we said:

"We noted from his sophomore film that he could benefit from a bit more explosiveness, and he needed to showcase that he could be 'the guy,' given that he got to play with the five-star prospect Colin Simmons.

Safe to say that Ford has made that leap, and his explosiveness jumps out immediately in his film from his junior campaign. 247 has him as the 97th-ranked prospect, and he has a composite ranking of 116th."

Ford's commitment to Florida is massive, given that if he had chosen Alabama, there were essentially no other uncommitted top 50 EDGEs, and Florida would have to try and flip someone.

Now, also given some of the rollercoaster ups and downs of the last 48 hours, he will also be a guy to keep an eye on to make sure he doesn't flip away.

But for now, he gives Florida its 17th commit of the class of 2026, 12 of which are four-star prospects.