4-star center John Bol de-commits from Florida Gators basketball
Four-star center John Bol, who committed to the Florida Gators basketball program less than one month ago, has backed off that pledge.
His agent announced the news Friday via Twitter.
Bol is the No. 4 center and No. 33 overall recruit in the 2024 class according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. He is listed at 7-foot-2 and 190 pounds.
Bol wasn’t a Gators verbal for very long. He committed to Florida on June 10 and chose the program over Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri, Southern California, Texas and Wake Forest.
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Bol began pitching t-shirts to Gators fans that same day on Twitter that read “Bol Out” on them.
Florida now has one player committed in the 2024 class. That’s 3-star shooting guard Isaiah Brown or Orlando Christian Prep (Fla.). He’s the No. 13 recruit in the state of Florida.
When Bol committed to the Gators, he seemed excited about his future in Gainesville.
“I feel like Florida is the best fit for me and my skillset,” he told On3’s Joe Tipton. “Ultimately, going to the league is my goal and I feel Florida can get me there. I am blessed and excited to be going to Florida. I can’t wait to start winning championships and bring the old winning days back to Florida.”
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Bol has an On3 NIL Valuation of $89K. 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.
Florida has had a great deal of recruiting success in recent months
While this latest news isn’t ideal, Florida absolutely crushed it in the transfer portal this offseason and there is a great deal of enthusiasm heading into Todd Golden’s second season as Gators coach.
The Florida transfer class is ranked No. 1 nationally by the data and analytics website EvanMiya.com and checks in at No. 5 in the On3 team rankings.
The Gators signed six transfers, including five in the top 175 of the On3 player rankings and three in the top 60 — Iona combo guard Walter Clayton Jr. (20th nationally), Marshall center Micah Handlogten(40th), UC Riverside point guard Zyon Pullin (56th), Yale power forward EJ Jarvis (171st), Seton Hall forward Tyrese Samuel (172nd) and San Francisco guard Julian Rishwain.
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Golden said over the course of his inaugural season, he and his coaches knew there would lots of roster turnover and they had to sign a strong transfer class. With more time to scout and recruit portal players in the 2023 cycle, Golden went to work director of basketball strategy and analytics Jonathan Safir, associate head coaches Carlin Hartman and Korey McCray, and assistant coach Kevin Hovde.
“I feel like this year we just had more time,” Golden told Zach Abolverdi of Gators Online. “Going into it, we were able to kind of build out a good plan of attack with kind of first, second and third options in certain situations. And so, we were able to identify over the course of the year what we needed and knock on wood, because we have a good staff and guys that work hard, we were able to go out and get those guys.”
