DB target Gregory Smith names Florida a top school, sets commitment date
On3 4-star safety Gregory Smith, a rising Florida target, named his top schools on Sunday night and not surprisingly the Gators made the cut.
They’re joined by Ole Miss, USF, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Toledo.
He will announce his commitment Dec. 13.
Smith, who attends Riverview (Fla.) Sumner, recently earned his fourth star from On3 due to a strong senior season during which he played both quarterback and safety. He currently is the No. 28 safety in the country in the On3 rankings.
This was Smith’s first varsity season at defensive back, but his play got the attention of several schools, including Florida. The Gators offered Smith, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 190 pounds, in early October.
Since then, he has attended multiple Florida home games — and the Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville. He will officially visit the Gators this coming Friday-Sunday.
Smith is on track to graduate in December.
Gregory Smith had a big senior season
Smith passed for 1,633 yards and 34 touchdowns this season, had 409 rushing yards and added 29 tackles, 4 pass breakups and an interception on defense.
Florida is the favorite to land Smith in the On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine by a wide margin. The Gators currently have an 89.4 percent projection rate.
Florida has two safeties on its 2024 commitment list.
But one of them, 5-star Xavier Filsaime of McKinney (Texas), is flirting with other schools and may not seem to be 100 percent locked in with the Gators. He recently made an unofficial visit to Texas and it seems likely he will officially visit the Longhorns this month.
Josiah Davis of Nashville (Ga.) Berrien, Florida’s other safety commit, has said in recent interviews he is solid to Billy Napier’s program.
Smith attended the Florida-Florida State game in late November at The Swamp.
“I enjoyed it once again. I liked the atmosphere,” Smith told Gators Online. “There are a lot of little things Florida needs to work on, but other than that, there are things they can fix. (The defense) played well but could have played a better second half. They could have came out like they did in the first half. It was decent.”
It is not known how much Napier’s dismissal of secondary coach Corey Raymond last week will impact Smith’s recruitment. Smith thought highly of the departing assistant.
What is known is this: The Gators still seem to be extremely high on Smith.
