Gators land in top 25 247Sports rankings

Florida football has made a hard push on the recruiting front of late, roping in commitments from four-star quarterback Markus Stokes and four-star running back Treyaun Webb — as well as other blue-chippers — to climb back up the rankings after a bit of a doldrum to start the summer.

ESPN bumped the Gators up to No. 17 in its most recent rankings, which has seen Billy Napier’s squad steadily climb since missing out on some big-name targets. Other outlets also have the Orange and Blue among their top 25 schools after the program fell off a cliff following the departure of Dan Mullen, signaling some much-needed progress where the previous staff had faltered.

247Sports’ Chance Linton recently published his rankings of the top schools on the recruiting trail, with Florida coming in at No. 22. Here is how Linton broke down the Gators halfway through the summer.

247Sports Composite Score: 200.22
Class rank: National—No. 22 | SEC—No. 6
Total commits: 12
Class summary: The Gators’ recruiting class consists of nine four-star prospects and three three-star prospects, including four players ranked among the top-200 nationally according to the 247Sports Composite. The Florida commits in the 2023 class have an average Composite rating of 90.54. In the 2022 recruiting cycle, the Gators signed the nation’s No. 18 class, per the Composite.

UF is sandwiched between the No. 21 Oregon Ducks and No. 23 West Virginia Mountaineers in the rankings, representing the last Southeastern Conference school on the list. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish sit at the top of the rankings at No. 1, while the five SEC schools mentioned ahead of Florida are the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers, No. 7 LSU Tigers, No. 9 Georgia Bulldogs, No. 10 Arkansas Razorbacks and No. 12 Alabama Crimson Tide.

With the upcoming Friday Night Lights and team cookout events at the end of July — which will feature plenty of big-name recruits on both days — it is entirely possible that the Gators will make…