On3 4-star safety Bryce Thornton commits to Florida

Alpharetta (Ga.) Milton safety Bryce Thornton took one game day visit to Florida and knew it was where he wanted to play college football.

The On3 four-star publicly committed to the Gators on Thursday afternoon, a little more than a month after his most recent visit.

“When I went to the game they played Kentucky, even though they lost, that’s kind of where I knew I wanted to be,” Thornton told On3. “It’s just the family out there with the coaching staff. I just built a relationship so well with them, and I was watching how they coach the players and how they react to them. They just genuinely gravitated toward them, Coach Napier, Patrick Toney, that’s been my guy. And seeing how they run things, I really like that.”

Thornton had been on campus with the Gators plenty of times before, visiting a few different times this spring and summer. But getting a chance to see the Swamp at night on a game day, as well as the chance to see his future head coach and position coaches in action really locked in what he’d been feeling for some time.

“Since they offered me, they’ve been on me since Day 1,” he added. “It hasn’t let up, so that was big. And when I go there, it’s all family. All the coaching staff talks to me, not just Toney. Everybody knows me. And lastly, my mom just loved it when she was down there. So when she did, it made me love it even more because my mom was happy down there.”

Bryce Thornton wants to part of rebuilding the Gators’ program

The 5-foot-10, 185-pounder, who ranks as On3’s No. 27 safety in the 2023 class, also considered the likes of Alabama, LSU and Miami. But with what he’s seen from Florida’s program under Napier — both on the field and the recruiting trail — he feels like the first-year coach is one who can lead the Gators back to a championship-caliber level of success.

“I feel like when they get their recruiting classes, it’s going to take off,” he said. “I feel like he can [build it into a championship team], especially with some of the recruits that are already committed. I’ve been talking to them, and we’re ready. I feel like we could have a top-10 recruiting class, so I think we should do big things.”

Thornton is now one of one of five commits in the defensive backfield for the Gators in this cycle, with two more major targets still in play: four-star cornerback Dijon Johnson (set to announce his commitment tonight) and Five-Star Plus+ cornerback Cormani McClain. One of Toney’s biggest priorities as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach has been building an elite group in the secondary, a foundation he hopes to start with this class.

“That’s my guy,” Thornton said of Toney. “I talk to him almost every day; he’s just keeping up with me, checking on my injury to make sure I’m okay. He’s real personal with me, and I just really enjoy talking to him. He wants me to play nickel, STAR, safety, kind of all over the field.

“… I feel like he can just teach me new things with schemes and defenses that I haven’t seen yet, and mold me as an overall athlete. Man-to-man, zone, and just teach me more about the game.”

Decision to turn down other schools was though

Bryce Thornton visited the Crimson Tide unofficial in September, and also considered the Tigers and Hurricanes strongly. It was a tough decision turning down those other programs, he said, but he ultimately knew where it was that he was supposed to be. That was in Gainesville.

“It was kind of hard because I’ve actually been an LSU fan since I was like 5. So me telling myself that wasn’t the best choice for me was hard,” he said. “And me not choosing Alabama was too because that’s ‘Bama. If you want to go the league, there’s a high chance if you go there. But I knew Florida was the best choice for me, and I wanted to go there.”