![Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier shakes hands with fans during Gator Walk before the start of the game against the UCF Knights at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, October 5, 2024. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_5545,h_3119/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01jz81rpc85s32gatf1y.jpg "Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier shakes hands with fans during Gator Walk before the start of the game against the UCF Knights at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, October 5, 2024. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]")
The Florida Gators got some great news on Wednesday as they found out they had beaten out Texas for four-star DL Kendall Guervil. The Fort Myers native had a roller coaster recruitment and in the end has chosen to be with the Gators.
He also helped ease the sting of missing out on two other prospects Florida had its eye on, who both made their commits with SEC rivals.
Florida Gators land Kendall Guervil
Guervil is listed at 6'4" and 315 pounds. He is a composite top 150 prospect, with 247 Sports ranking him the highest at 77th.
When we reviewed his film in June, we said:
"On film, it's easy to see why Guervil is rated as high as he is. He can play inside or outside, and either way, he seldom gets stopped. Teams try to double-team him, and that doesn't seem to work either.
His first step burst would need to be a touch better if he was trying to crack the top 50 nationally, but he is going to walk onto someone's campus next year with the size to be immediately plugged into a Power Four defensive line and not look out of place."
His recruitment took several twists and turns. He was first projected to land with Florida, then Texas emerged as the favorite, only for the Gators to make one final push to land him.
Guervil now gives Florida 15 commits for the class of 2026.
He also helps ease the sting of missing out on two other prospects the Gators were finalists for.
Five-star WR Cederian Morgan committed to Alabama. Even though Florida had Morgan on campus for an official visit, and Morgan has said plenty of positive things about Florida, this was expected by people who had followed his recruitment.
Likewise, five-star EDGE Trenton Henderson has committed to LSU. This was also predicted, but it is also not a good loss for Florida. The Gators seemed to be in a good position to land Henderson, but rumors of LSU upping their NIL package to a place Florida wasn't willing to match helped lead Henderson to Baton Rouge.