Heading into the weekend, it looked like Florida Football was in line to land one of the top wide receivers in the country. Steve Wiltfong of On3 had lodged a prediction that the Gators would land Naeem Burroughs, and as we profiled, he has speed to burn and would fit in perfectly in Gainesville.
Either Wiltfong got bad information or Clemson pulled off a heist as Burroughs will not be coming to Gainesville and to add insult to injury another Florida target has also committed to the Tigers.
Florida Football: 2 For 1
On Saturday, Burroughs took to social media to announce that he would be committing to Clemson. While there is still a long way to go before the commitment actually sticks, Corey Bender of On3 points out that Dabo Swinney doesn't typically allow his verbal commitments to take other visits.
The loss stings for Florida, who will go back to drawing board to try and jump-start their class of 2026.
When they do get the ball rolling, it looks like it won't be with fellow target Chance Barclay, a 6'4" and 290-pound IOL from Orlando.
Barclay had lined up an official visit with Florida in June after being on campus in January as part of Junior Day. According to his 247 profile, Billy Napier had also paid Barclay a visit in January, and On3 had Florida as the favorite until yesterday.
As is the case with any recruit, no individual prospect is ever a sign that the sky is falling, but there are some signs Florida is about to lag behind in a similar manner they did last year before a late flurry took them to the top ten.
Right now, Florida has three verbal commits for the class of 2026: QB Will Griffin, LB Izayia Williams, and S Devin Jackson.