The up-and-down nature of recruiting continues for the Florida Gators as Billy Napier and crew missed out on two targets this week.
These were expected by the time these prospects got to the finish line, but it still leaves Florida lagging behind the elite classes of 2026.
Florida misses out on Somourian Wingo and Valdin Sone
Florida made the final three for Somourian Wingo, but it was clear by the end that Wingo was going to go with Miami. Wingo raised eyebrows among Gator fans last week when talking about his final three.
He told Rivals that:
"As far as me making a decision, that's all on my agent to do his work and him getting back to me and my parents, and we'll take the next step then."
While Florida was seen as the leader to get Wingo back in June, it's obvious that whatever news and information his agent came back with led him to Miami.
We did like Wingo as a player, and when we profiled him back in June, we said:
"On film, it doesn't matter if Wingo lines up in the slot or out wide; he is a touchdown threat on every play. What impresses the most about Wingo is not only his catch radius, which gives him the ability to go up and catch almost anything thrown in his direction but also his ability to keep the play going and turn it into six points.
He doesn't necessarily have blinding speed, but he does have the ability to punish secondaries who try to play press coverage on him.
As a junior he had 71 catches for 1,119 yards and 14 touchdowns during the 2024 season."
The other player Florida missed out on, who followed a similar path, was four-star DL Valdin Sone, who chose Georgia.
Like Wingo, Florida was seen as the leader for Sone back in April. And like Wingo, it was clear that lead slipped away as Georgia came into the picture, and it was no surprise that he chose the Bulldogs on Friday.
When we profiled Sone earlier this month, we said:
"On film, his overall industry ranking of around 150 is probably fair. There are times when he has an explosive first step as good as anyone, and he becomes a one-man wrecking crew. He holds the run gaps well and even has some solid football IQ to sniff out screens and just blindly rush the passer.
His size is evident, and as he continues to grow, he has the potential to have day one SEC-ready size."
So now what for the Gators?
Florida's class of 2026 is in a weird place. After a ton of momentum in early June, they seem to have stalled out entering the season itself. The Gators are ranked 14th overall and 10th in average player ranking.
We like a lot of the individual players the Gators have landed, but they have yet to land any of the "premier" players from this class, and there is a glaring hole in the makeup of this class.
Missing out on Wingo can be absorbed by the Gators, who still have a deep enough wide receiver room to be okay if Marquez Daniel winds up being the only wide receiver for this class.
But losing out on Sone highlights the flashing red lights along the defensive line. Kendall Guervil is the only true defensive tackle the Gators have had commit in its class of 2026 (given that JaReylan McCoy is expected to be more of an EDGE), and this is a unit that is already a giant question mark heading into the 2025 season.
In fact, going back to our Sone profile, we noted at the end of the write-up that:
"The moral is that Florida can't afford to let Sone slip away. The Gators are desperately thin at DL, and the number of options left on the board if Sone goes to Georgia is shrinking."
Options are shrinking indeed for Florida.