![Florida Head Coach Jon Sumrall greats fans as he heads to the locker room during Gator Walk before the Orange and Blue game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, April 11, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_136,w_2689,h_1512/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01krm7r77kfsjvjjgdph.jpg "Florida Head Coach Jon Sumrall greats fans as he heads to the locker room during Gator Walk before the Orange and Blue game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, April 11, 2026. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
We are entering a major stretch in recruiting for the Florida Gators where many of their top targets and commitments will be on campus for official visits. It's going to be a critical part of the biggest test for Jon Sumrall and staff when it comes to their ability to build rosters strong enough to compete in the SEC.
The good news is that Sumrall has put the Gators in contention for some of the best high school recruits in the country, and that includes four-star linebacker AJ Randle, who will be making his announcement on May 21, ahead of his official visit to Florida, which is scheduled for May 28-30. The Gators are joined in the final group with Miami, Ohio State, NC State, South Carolina and Georgia.
NEWS: Four-Star LB AJ Randle will announce his commitment May 21st, he tells me for @Rivals⁰⁰The 6’3 215 LB will choose between Miami, South Carolina, Ohio State, Florida, NC State, and Georgia
— Hayes Fawcett (@Hayesfawcett3) May 14, 2026
He’s ranked as the No. 5 LB in the 2027 Rivals300https://t.co/N7GwUKRdcT pic.twitter.com/MFRxDt5Mw2
4-star LB AJ Randle has a lot of love for the Florida Gators
Florida offered Randle in mid-January and quickly got one of the top prospects out of North Carolina on campus within a couple of weeks of the offer. The timing worked out well for Sumrall as Randle and his family were stuck in Gainesville for a few extra days because of a snow storm, and it gave the new Gators coach additional time to sell his vision for the program to Randle.
"I think that extra time helped them tremendously. We got to do a lot of the things we're going to do on the [official visit] because we were still there," Randle told Tyler Harden from the 247Sports Gators site. "We got to meet with the academic department and meet with the trainers. I got to go see them do their winter OTAs. It was good to be around the team a little bit more, get to build some more relationships with the coaches and players and be around the environment a little bit more. They had more time to show that this could be a place for me."
That winter visit and the experience led into a spring visit where he was able to see Sumrall and the staff during spring practice. This gave Harden a better idea of what the coaching staff would be like when they were able to be hands-on with the roster.
"I got to see how some of the coaches coach, how they go about running their defenses and what they like to run. I got to sit down and watch some film with the coaches as well. That was good to see where they envision me and how I fit into the program," Randle added.
It's pretty clear that Randle likes the Gators staff and says his relationship with outside linebackers coach Bam Hardmon is as strong as he has with any coach in his recruitment. Miami is probably the team to beat here, but the Gators are a live dog and if Randle still takes the official visit to Gainesville, they will have a shot. Credit to Sumrall, Hardmon and the rest of the Gators staff for making this recruitment a real battle. We'll see which school he chooses next week and where it goes from there.
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