Florida Football pulls off flip of four-star defensive back Demetres Samuel

We've noted in the past that under Billy Napier, things tend to go in waves for Florida Football when it comes to gaining commitments, and yesterday was no exception. The Gators had three players verbally commit in a short timespan during the late afternoon.

Among them was a flip from Syracuse who will be reclassifying to the class of 2025.

Florida Football: Flipping Season

Demetres Samuel is an athlete projected to play defensive back out of Palm Bay. He is a consensus four-star, with On3 grading him the highest at 52nd overall among the class of 2026 prospects.

On film, Samuel is a do it all touchdown maker. Samuel is utilized in all three phases of the game and makes it feel like everyone around him is playing the game in slow motion.

For defensive back specifically, Samuel is a ball hawk who will snatch passes out of the air even when they don't necessarily feel like a bad pass to begin with. He has the fluidity to come downhill as needed and will deliver a solid hit when the opportunity presents itself.

It should noted that while his TFFRS profile lists a time in the 100-meter dash of 10.52 seconds, there is reason to believe that time is not correct. While Samuel didn't run the 100 again during the 2024 track season, almost everyone else who broke 11 seconds in that race spent the remainder of the 2024 season running aronud 11.5 seconds.

Samuel was offered by the Gators back in March, but he committed to Syracuse four days later. He was in town over the weekend for the Grill in the Ville event and with some enouragment from former Gator safety Marcus Maye, who is Samuel's cousin, the flip was complete.

The Gators now have 12 commits for their class of 2025.