Florida HC Billy Napier makes in-home visit to Gators OT commit Mike Williams
National Signing Day is almost two weeks away, which means coaching staffs are hitting the road to make their in-home visits.
Florida head coach Billy Napier, offensive coordinator Rob Sale and linebackers coach Jay Bateman conducted an in-home with Baltimore (Md.) Charles Herbert Flowers three-star offensive tackle Mike Williams on Monday:
Williams is the No. 1278 overall prospect and No. 89 OT in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He’s also the No. 38 player in Maryland.
He pledged to the Gators on June 12 and is one of four offensive linemen on Napier’s 2024 pledge list. Relationships with the UF coaching staff and a bang-up official visit to Gainesville helped the Gators land the lineman:
“Out of all the visits I’ve taken, this is the best I’ve ever had,” Williams told Gators Online. “Coach (Darnell) Stapleton and coach (Rob) Sale, they’re not used-car salesmen. They are great guys and two offensive line coaches….I love that; that is a beautiful scheme they are running.
“Also, when they are gone, they even have two other offensive line coaches. They are really into developing you and breaking down how they’re going to develop you for the coming years. Like, when I come in the fall, like, how they’re going to develop me and stuff like that.”
Joining Williams in the trenches on the offensive side of the ball is Leesburg (Va.) Tuscarora four-star OT Fletcher Westphal, Atlanta South Gwinnett three-star OT Marcus Mascoll and Schwäbisch Hall (Germany) three-star OT Noel Portnjagin.
In total, Florida’s class consists of 19 commits and ranks No. 5 in the nation, according to the On3 Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. A trio of five-stars highlight the class: Willis (Texas) quarterback DJ Lagway, Daytona Beach (Fla.) Mainland defensive lineman LJ McCray and McKinney (Texas) safety Xavier Filsaime.
All three are top-30 overall prospects and are top-five players at their respective classes. Lagway, who committed to the Gators back on Dec. 7, 2022, is the No. 3 signal-caller in the cycle. McCray is one of UF’s newer pledges, doing so on Oct. 21 this fall.
Williams does not currently have an On3 NIL Valuation. The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets high school and college athletes’ projected annual value (PAV). The NIL valuation does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals an athlete has completed to date. It rather signifies an athlete’s value at a certain moment in time.