Florida Football Recruiting: Don't completely sleep on PWO David Schmidt

We here at Hail Florida Hail like to give honest breakdowns on the film of prospects that Florida football are pursuing. We tend to keep it mostly positive but we also tend to give honest projections of where what we think a prospect's ceiling is.

So while most fans probably won't pay much attention to PWO David Schmidt, we aren't going to rule him out just yet as someone who could get on scholarship down the road.

Florida Football: Talent in the backyard

Schmidt is out of Newberry High, just 15 miles down the road from Florida's campus. Listed at 5'11" and 180 pounds, Schmidt's size is just a touch smaller than what most SEC level recievers are going to be. Almost all of Florida's main receivers in 2023 were 6'1" or above.

This is where some comparisons to Tre Wilson come into play. Wilson, too, is 5'10", and while Schmidt doesn't quite have the same level of "Did you see that?" explosiveness, his ability to change gears is noticeable on film. His Hudl profile claims a 4.5-second 40-yard dash.

He isn't afraid to catch the ball in traffic, but he also has a solid understanding of how to find open holes within zone coverage and understands where to peel his routes off to.

Schmidt is also a willing kick returner and is able to use his vision and hint of speed well in this area.

As a PWO, his chances of making a significant impact are low. But we did see this season former PWO Taylor Spierto get bumped up to the scholarship list. And based on the film Schmidt has, combined with the fact that he is a hometown kid and the type of player mentality wise that Napier is trying to fill the roster with, we are not going to count him out just yet.